Perhaps it’s their Latin origin, or the resemblance between their people, or even the similarity of their languages; regardless of the reason, there is no denying that Romania and Italy enjoy a constantly good relationship both in politically and in economically. Of course, after Romania joined the European Union and the massive exodus of Romanians to Italy some frictions arose, but according to data from the Romanian National Institute of Statistics, Italy still retains its top position both as an exporter to Romania and also as the primary destination for Romanian goods, sharing around 11.6% of Romania's total trade.
Basically, the market in this country is proving extremely attractive to Italian investors whose presence in Romania increased significantly after the year 2000 and continues to grow even today. In this respect, Italy has the largest number of foreign companies in Romania, 2,203 of which were set up only in 2015. Thus, the peninsula is by far the largest foreign investor in Romania (20.5% of companies in Romania are of Italian origin), a position held for over 10 years.
Conversely, things are pretty much the same, as Romanian investors are also a familiar presence in Italy, where they operate no less than 60,000 companies, while the Romanian community in Italy has already passed the one million mark. The interdependence between the two countries has thus proven fruitful and the political environment is already capitalizing on the relationship, some politicians offering it as an example of European integration.
Still, regardless of how one looks at things there is no denying the opportunities that one country represents to the investors of the other, which is why mutual investments are constantly growing especially from Italy towards Romania. This trend is also sustained by the economic growth anticipated for the Carpathian country, which is expected to reach 4.2% in 2016 and 3.7% in 2017.
Finally, if we take into account the various incentives that the Romanian government seeks to provide to foreign investors, than we can honestly say that, for Italian investors, presence in Romania is a must, especially now that the relationship between the two countries are very warm.
Sources:
http://www.capital.ro/romania-pe-lista-prioritara-pentru-investitorii-italieni.html
http://www.timpromanesc.ro/50-de-romani-vor-sa-candideze-la-alegerile-locale-din-italia
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