November 2008

Ambassador Robin Barnett met with key Olt, Dolj and Argeş officials and also made several other economic visits to Litestructures, William Tyrell Foundation, Ford Car Plant, Provident Financial.

Below is his account of the visit:

'Another packed programme! In Slatina, I had the pleasure to help open the new expanded headquarters of a British company, Litestructures which makes sophisticated aluminium castings, for example for shops or theatre productions. Again quality was a key issue. The CEO told me that the workforce delivers products that are every bit as good as those produced in the UK.

I also had a chance to visit the William Tyrell Foundation. This supports children, including those of Roma ethnicity who are suffering from poverty. They are supported by a British charity Rainbow. My programme included meeting the staff and the students at a school where most pupils live in real poverty. I was incredibly impressed by the seven days a week dedication of the staff there.  But the stars were the children, whose delight at being able to learn was clear.

I then moved on to make my second visit to Craiova. The dominant theme there was the very positive impact that the planned Ford investment in the former Daewoo car plant is likely to have on the area. I certainly see very good opportunities indeed for British car component manufactures. The local authorities stressed how open they were to investors to the UK and Mayor Solomon joined me to open the Craiova branch of Provident Financial, a British company which is expanding all over Romania, providing an innovative financial service.

Finally I stopped off in Piteşti where there is a pilot project between Hampshire Council in the UK and Judeţul Argeş to exchange experience and ideas on improving responses in emergency situations. I was lucky enough to be there to see a live demonstration of Romania’s emergency capabilities in a coordinated exercise involving everything from the fire and emergency services to divers recovering fake bodies from a lake and a helicopter equipped to fight serious fires from the air. This was an example of dedicated professionalism, but also great fun to watch.'

Flickr: View photos from this and other regional visits