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17. 07. 09. - 10:00

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17. 07. 09. - 10:00

Basescu invites Czechs to invest in Romania

Romanian Times

Romanian President Traian Basescu encouraged Czech businessmen to invest in Romanian agriculture and rural tourism yesterday (Thurs) in Prague.

Basescu said the Romanian government had 54 billion Euros that could be invested in agriculture until 2013, Mediafax has reported.

"This may be an opportunity for you as well, an opportunity for European businessmen to invest in Romania and gain access to that money," Basescu said.

Basescu added Romanian agriculture had great potential that was not being exploited.

"Unfortunately, we import 70 per cent percent of the products that are consumed in our households. We do not have our own technology," the president said.

He added that Romanian agriculture would be able to cover 80 per cent of domestic demand if companies decided to invest in the right technology.

"In addition, there is rural tourism. We have potential but often do not know how to attract foreign tourists," Basescu said.

The Romanian president also spoke about the country’s economy, which was in recession.

"We expect a decrease of the gross domestic product (GDP) of about 5.7 per cent," Basescu said, adding that the country’s banking sector was healthy, the government hadn’t needed to bail out banks and the country was sending fewer exports to Germany, the U.K., France and Spain.

Basescu also noted Romania’s unemployment rate was nearing 5.6 per cent.

Basescu was on a two-day, official visit to Prague.

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