Coalition partner
When are the big bucks heading this way ? ask Ana-Maria Smadeanu,
as she speaks to outgoing Romanian Ambassador to Washington Sorin Ducaru, before
he heads for NATO.
For
some time it seemed only the political relations between Romania and the USA
were growing.
The leading Romanian parties all joined President Bush’s
coalition of the willing to invade Iraq, while the US is in the process of
establishing military air bases in east Romania.
But on the social and
economic side the situation has not been so fruitful. American charities are
among the loudest critics of Romania’s moratorium on international adoptions for
its ‘abandoned’ children, while US foreign investment here does not compare to
many nations in the region.
Nevertheless, Ducaru is upbeat.
“I am leaving
this posting when the appetite for economic opportunities in Romania just
starts,” he tells The Diplomat. “There is saturation in Poland, Hungary and the
Czech Republic.”
President Basescu opened his mandate in 2005 with a
statement that surprised some – positioning a new axis of
Bucharest-Washington-London at the heart of his foreign policy – highlighting
international security as key to Romania’s geopolitical identity.
Despite
Basescu’s overtures, both the USA and UK still have a visa regime for Romanians.
Rumours have circulated that the lifting of visas was conditional upon Romania’s
resumption of either international adoptions, or Romania’s troop commitment to
the ongoing ‘War on Terror’.
“This is not true,” says Ducaru. “Basescu has
said that Romania doesn’t trade soldiers for visas. If this problem should
arise, the president could say that Romania doesn’t trade children for
visas.”
This issue will not go away.
“Americans will continually want to
adopt kids,” says Ducaru. “Personally we should not take this as pressure, but
as an interest which is constructive.”
The Ambassador says that the Embassy
has started a campaign to eliminate the visa regime for Romanians. “New EU
member states should not be discriminated against, compared to the USA’s old
allies in the EU,” he says. “We want to promote economic relations. But the visa
regime is like a barrier. Today when deals are made in a few hours, having to
wait two months for a visa makes this impossible.”
Despite this, there are
100,000s of Romanians in the US who still retain their birth nation’s
citizenship. Also counting those with Romanian roots, Ducaru estimates the total
at 1.5 million. Not all of them have drowned in the melting pot.
“The manager
of Washington Wizards basketball team called me up to say that he comes from a
Romanian family in Oradea and he wants to come to the Embassy,” says Ducaru. “I
asked him why he didn’t admit his roots before and he said that he didn’t have
the arguments to be proud of being Romanian until this moment.”
While US
firms established in Romania include GE, Smithfield, Oracle, HP and Microsoft,
computer manufacturer Dell, which Ducaru says showed interest in investing in
Timisoara, has just announced plans for a plant in Poland.
Now the Ministry
of Economy and Trade has taken over the car factory in Craiova previously owned
by Daewoo. One hour after the state bought the plant, Ford expressed official
interest. “Ford has a strategic project prepared for Craiova, but there will
also be other companies interested to buy, such as General Motors and Honda,”
says Ducaru.
US firms have not had an easy ride in the Romanian vehicle
market. Crosslander bought out state 4X4 factory Aro Campulung to build Ford
Explorer Engines inside the heavy duty vehicles. Some in the US press were,
according to the Ambassador, hyping up the project as a potential rival to the
Hummer.
Now the Privatisation Authority (AVAS) is suing Cross Lander and the
US firm is making counter-accusations against AVAS, while the vehicle plant
rusts and the workers live off meagre handouts from the sale of car
parts.
“As a representative of Romania, my obligation was to support this
project, but when there were problems generated by issues which are not our [the
Embassy’s] responsibility, we could not do anything,” says the Ambassador. “I am
sorry it ended up like this.”
Nobel Ventures also sued the Romanian
Government over the cancellation of an iron and steel mill in Resita, which the
US firm lost. There are also four other cases of financial litigation at the
World Bank’s Arbitration Court. This should not be disheartening,
though.
“There are countries such as the Czech Republic which have three
times more cases than us,” says Ducaru.
Sorin Ducaru
Age:
42
2001-2006 Ambassador of Romania to Washington
Next posting: Ambassador
of Romania to NATO, Brussels
Education: Politehnica Bucharest, engineering
faculty
Career: 1996-1998 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, director for
NATO
1998 - 2000 Deputy to the Romanian Ambassador to USA
Speaks: English,
German and French
Hobbies: Music [he plays guitar and harp], photography,
skiing and tennis
(C) The
Diplomat
----------------------------
Vali
An aristocratic
title is not enough to ensure a noble behaviour. A person's greatness
comes from acknowledging the mistakes and agreeing to correct them.
"When
the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." (Jimi
Hendrix)
*** sustineti [romania_eu_list] prin 2% din impozitul pe 2005 - detalii la http://www.doilasuta.ro ***
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