Arab businessmen of the Gulf are interested in investing their petrodollars in Romania. Discussions on the subject will take place at the business forum hosted in Bucharest by the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, between March 8th-March 10th, 2011.
The states in the Gulf area (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain) have expressed their intention of identifying new investment projects, worth at least 20 million dollars each.
The economies of the six Arab countries are literally drowning in oil, as the sector in question accounts for overwhelming proportions of the GDP. Lately, the governments have launched strategies for diversifying their economies. One sector that is underdeveloped in the area is agriculture, which essentially doesn"t matter in the economy of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). And that is bad news, especially as the World Bank has announced that a food crisis is looming.
Romania seems to be the solution to the issue that the Arab area is facing. According to some estimates, Romania has the ability to feed approximately 80 million inhabitants, yet it is currently unable to provide food for its own citizens, as it is a net importer of food products.
Thus, lately, an increasing number of foreign investors have been buying large areas of farmland in Romania. They have preferred buying land here due to the low price, below that of the European Union, as well as the high fertility.
The first deal that may happen following the business forum is an agricultural partnership between Romania and Hassad Food, the agricultural investment fund of the Investment Authority of Qatar.
Other areas of interest for Arab businesses are natural resources - oil and gas, petrochemical industry, infrastructure, banks and finance, IT&C, health and pharmaceuticals, education
