Growing economic ties: increased British investment

Since EU accession, there has been growing interest from UK business in Romania, with bilateral trade accounting for over €2 billion in 2008. The UK is now a major inward investor with over €4 billion of investment and more than 4000 UK companies active in the market. They include household names such as Vodafone, Aviva Insurance, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Unilever, Marks and Spencer, Debenhams and Provident Financial. Last year's take-over of ABN AMRO by Royal Bank of Scotland added a British presence in the financial-banking sector too.  And HSBC has just been named as a lead manager for a Eurobond issue, worth up to €1.5bn.

Despite the global recession UK companies are still focussing on new markets, with Romania benefiting from 'new to market' exporters. In addition to Romania’s designation as a UK priority market in the Rail, Ports and Water/Environment sectors, Financial Services and Airports have been now been added for the first time.

Defence and Security

The UK and Romania have a long standing and robust partnership in the Defence and Security field.  We serve side by side on operations, with Romanian forces under UK command previously in Iraq and from late October 2009 in Afghanistan when UK assumes command of Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) 6.  We enjoy a well-developed bilateral programme that has, and continues to support, the training and transformation of the Romanian Armed Forces.  As part of this programme over 500 Romanian military personnel have participated in UK sponsored training. We are especially proud to have played a key role in the recent successful declaration of Initial Operating Capability for the Romanian-led NATO Multilateral Infrastructure Logistic Unit, and for the close co-operation that has developed as part of our joint infantry exercise at Craiova in September 2009. We have also supported the pre-deployment training of 33 Mountain Battalion at Curtea de Arges. We enjoy regular contact at senior military levels and high level visits in both directions play a key part in our defence and security relationship, highlighted by the visit in September 2009 of Major-General Carter, Commander-designate of CJTF 6.

Fighting Organised Crime

The UK government has representatives of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), based at the Embassy. They work closely with their counterparts in the Romanian National Police, the National Customs Agency and the National Agency for Fiscal Administration on a variety of mutually beneficial operations.  One highlight is Operation Golf; a Joint UK-Romania Investigation Team (JIT) funded by the European Union. The JIT’s activities centre on tackling organised crime groups who traffic predominantly Roma children to the UK to work as beggars and exploit the UK benefits system for criminal gain. JIT achieved the first UK conviction of Trafficking of Human Beings (THB) of a child, and uncovered, and rescued, 5 further victims of child exploitation, as well as evidence of systematic and widespread benefit fraud.   Other areas of close co-operation include the fight against fiscal fraud and cigarette smuggling, where HMRC worked together with the Romanian National Police to amend the Romania law on cigarette smuggling.  This was a very important step as on average 14.25 million packets of contraband cigarettes are seized annually in Romania, of which an estimated 30-40% are destined for the UK.

Supporting the fight against corruption/ reform of the justice sector

We fully support the fight against corruption in Romania, with UK officials leading two PHARE Twinning projects. One focuses on tackling corruption in public institutions through simplifying administrative procedures and increasing transparency.  The other looks at ways the National Anti-Corruption Department (DNA) can boost its investigation capacity to combat more complex economic fraud, such as money laundering. We are also co-funding with the Dutch Embassy a project to identify, and tackle, corruption in the public health service.

We have also been sponsoring visits to Romania of recently retired UK judges to give seminars on the consistency of sentencing. These awareness-raising seminars have helped to set up a national database of court decisions. This has contributed to the more positive Co-operation and Verification Mechanism country report for Romania issued by the European Commission this summer.

Working together in the EU

UK Ministries and their Romanian counterparts have developed excellent relations on a number of key areas of mutual interest from economic forecasting, financial reform, e-government and wider European policy.

More practical support has been provided to key officials from the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and 14 other Ministries in the form of training on European Parliament (EP) lobbying techniques. The event was aimed at increasing the knowledge and engagement of Romanian officials in EU-related work by sharing UK expertise.

We are also working closely together on a post-2010 Lisbon Strategy that sets high-level goals based on openness, flexibility, fairness and sustainability.

Climate Change

The UK and Romanian authorities are working closely together on climate change and energy issues. A number of UK experts, including the Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative on Climate Change, John Ashton, have visited Romania to discuss co-operation on the EU 2020 package, a comprehensive post-Kyoto world climate change deal, and the promotion of the EU's demonstration programme on carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Romanian experts and Ministry officials have also travelled to the UK, most recently in September 2009, to discuss the UK’s CCS competition and climate change legislation and strategy, and to carry out a scoping mission to Scottish Power’s pilot CO2 capture project in Edinburgh.

A significant part of the UK-Romania co-operation on climate change focuses on green projects and awareness raising events. A notable success was the British Embassy-funded 2008 'Young Ambassadors against Climate Change' nation-wide initiative, supported by the Romanian authorities and media, where secondary school pupils designed awareness raising campaigns. We also sponsored a visit to the UK by the former Romanian Environment Minister Sulfina Barbu, to discuss climate change policy.  She has since become a leading champion for Climate Change action here.

Agriculture

A UK-Romania Agricultural Working Group was established in late 2004 to promote agriculture sector reform, improve the exchange of knowledge and share best practice. Members from the two countries meet regularly in London and Bucharest to discuss the Common Agricultural Policy, sustainable agriculture, state aid, rural development and others.

Another initiative in this field is the Carpathians Project, under the patronage of HRH Prince of Wales Foundation, which aims to ensure durable development and environment protection in the Carpathians. The project’s activities include: supporting the Romanian local authorities through consultancy programmes; providing examples of best practice in tourism promotion; and looking at ways to maximise the possibilities offered by EU funds for Rural Development.

The British Council

The British Council maintains three public access centres in Bucharest, Iasi and Cluj.  The Bucharest Resources Centre is one of the most innovative in the country, with an unrivalled collection of personal and career development resources, as well as the latest publications in areas such as parenting and modern literature.  Additionally the British Council Romania manages a range of major projects in the areas of Intercultural Dialogue, UK Creative and Knowledge Economy and Climate Change. One high profile project is Skills@Work, which promotes internationalism within the vocational education and training sector and which features a round of national competitions starting this November. It also continues to expand its English language teaching services in Romania, with over 1,600 students at any one time. Its examinations’ services are also growing, with over 17,000 candidates a year. The BritTeen club, which encourages life management and study skills for the 9-18 year-olds, continues to grow in Bucharest, Cluj, Iasi and Constanta.

UK Bilateral Assistance/ EU Twinning

The UK makes a substantial contribution to the €30 billion in EU structural and rural development funding available to Romania from 2007-13.  We also operate a Bilateral Assistance Programme at the embassy which funds initiatives that address key and wide-ranging global priorities, such as the fight against climate change, anti-corruption, reform of the judiciary and enhancing the capacity of those working with disabled children. A number of UK experts are also engaged in EU Twinning Projects that are helping Romania tackle corruption, develop the Probation Service and spend EU funds effectively.

Twinning between Romanian and British regions and towns

British and Romanian regions are developing increasing links, through exchanges of professional experience and commercial opportunities. Good examples of partnership include Leeds - Brasov, Cardiff – Cluj and East Midlands - Prahova.   A most active partnership is Nottingham - Timisoara, where the cities enjoy close co-operation on environment protection, urban regeneration and higher education. We are also pleased to announce a new partnership between Wakefield and Craiova.

Civil Society support

Many British NGOs are active in Romania offering help in areas such as medical care, hospices, assistance to disadvantaged children, disabled persons, Roma issues, environment protection, animal rights and the preservation of the Romanian cultural heritage. The bear reservation in Zarnesti, the refurbishment of the County Hospital in Salaj County and the “Casa Sperantei” Hospice for incurable patients in Brasov are just a few examples of the involvement of charitable British organisations in Romania.  Some British NGOs have also opened centres in Romania, namely World Vision, Light into Europe and Children in Distress.

In March 2009, the British Embassy Bucharest, with the support of Canary Wharf and the Romanian Embassy in London, organised the 'UK and Romania Working Together to Help Those in Need' workshop, which brought together a number of UK-based NGOs and charities with operations in Romania. A follow-up event will be organised in Sibiu, Romania in October 2009.  We continue to be very supportive of the Gay Rights movement in Romania with the Ambassador speaking at the Gay Pride event in Bucharest in May 2009.

High level visits

Both inward and outward visits at Ministerial and official level have helped develop co-operation in the judicial and economic fields and climate change.  And we now have a clear understanding of each other’s positions in the European Council working groups.  The latest inward and outward high-level ministerial visits are listed below:

• In Romania: Prime Minister Gordon Brown (April 2008), Foreign Secretary David Miliband (Sept 2007, April 2008), Defence Secretary Des Browne (April 2008), UK Minister for Crime Reduction Vernon Coaker (March 2008), HRH The Prince of Wales (May 2009)
• In the United Kingdom: Minister for Communication and Information Society Gabriel Sandu (May 2009), Foreign Minister Diaconescu (April 2009), Minister of Justice Catalin Predoiu (June 2008).

Updated September 2009