Lia Roberts is leaving

Presidency candidate Lia Roberts announced withdrawal yesterday evening. By press release she stated she came to "Westernize" Romania, but that the political system kept her away from electors. "I had no access to national TV channels, although such presence was very expensive. I have recently been turned down twice, while the candidates of major parties were on election campaign", specified the release. Still Lia Roberts stated her willingness to come back anytime to "the Romanian political stage", in case "the outcome of November elections showed that the Romanian people was determined to choose a way different than the one imposed by politicians at present".

ECONOMICS

Corruption and fiscality "sabotage" the business world

http://www.ziua.net/display.php?id=26661&data=2004-09-24The worrying level of corruption, high fiscality and labor regulation are the main difficulties that businessmen deal with in Romania, according to a FIAS (Foreign Investment Advisory Service) of the World Bank. The report was elaborated on the basis of the preliminary conclusions reached in a study on the evaluation of administrative obstacles for the Romanian business world. It was accomplished by FIAS and the Ministry of Economy and Commerce. The study includes the outcome of a statistics completed by IRSOP (The Romanian Institute for Public Opinion Research). The questions were answered by representatives of more than 720 companies. It also included a questionnaire set by the Economy Ministry and addressed to the leading boards of 9 public institutions having regulation role. FIAS says the answers given by the business community show the improvement of the perception on investment background, but that many problems have not been given solutions yet and continue to negatively influence the business world.



On the other hand, FIAS notices the Executives efforts to 'generally improve the business background and some measures adopted by authorities: the creation of the National Control Office, the implementing of tacit approval and of personal responsibility, the creation of a single control register and the simplification of procedures to register companies.

Romania is number 5 in the foreign investment top in Eastern Europe

This year Romania will attract direct foreign investments reaching about $ 2,4 billion (2 billion Euro), as in the first term of the year investments reached 1,1 billion Euro. The statement belongs to Alexandru Popa, President of the Romanian Agency of Foreign Investment. He stated this during a conference presenting the World Report on investment, elaborated by the United Nations Conference on Commerce and Development. According to the document, last year Romania was number 5 in Central and Eastern Europe, as direct foreign investment reached $1,56 billion. According to the Romanian official, t updated information from the central bank shows that in 2003 Romania attracted direct foreign investment reaching $ 1,83 billion, which makes it number 4 in Eastern Central Europe and number 1 in South Eastern Europe.