Steven van Groningen, president of the Foreign Investors Council, said investment in Romania requires incredibly large sums, adding the money can come from savings, loans or EU funds. However, according to van Groningen, foreign direct investment should be a priority for the future.
For the energy segment, the sums necessary are very high, and projects take a long time to implement, so investors need to make sure that projects are profitable in the long run, the FIC official said during an energy forum.
According to van Groningen, who is also chief executive officer of Raiffeisen Bank’s local subsidiary, Romania has taken important steps towards increasing economic stability, but the measures are still insufficient.
Present at the forum, Luca D’Agnese, head of Enel Romania, said the state has only one method available, if it wants to draw private investment, namely to make projects attractive.
“Romania needs to find the mechanisms to be more attractive than other markets,” the Enel official said.
He added that Romania’s energy segment is well regulated in some areas, such as distribution, but it needs more transparency, and pricing needs to be more balanced.
In his turn, Matthias Keuchel, senior vice-president of a gas supply division within E.ON Ruhrgas AG, said the east and southeast of Europe show promise in terms of consumption increase, but states need to adopt a stable regulation frame, to liberalize markets and to expand the infrastructure.