Direct foreign investments have an essential contribution to a country's growth and economic development. The local and central public authorities need to be aware of the role of foreign and domestic investments in local and intelligent development, durable and focused on-people.

The privatization of the Romanian companies over the 20 years of market economy has led to numerous controversies over their sale for a pittance, even though they had a huge potential for growth. Still, had they not been privatized, we don't know what kind of future they would have had, or if they had still been owned by the state.

The privatization of the major companies in Romania had positive effects through the horizontal development of certain industries, the creation of parallel investments, the attraction of new investors in the areas where they operate. There have also been created indirect jobs, often times more than in the initial investment.

Mircea Ursache, former president of the AVAS, is convinced that the privatization of the companies has led to a horizontal development. He said: "Dacia represents a successful privatization, due to the permanence of its activity, revenue, and contribution to the state budget. The privatization of Sidex was successful, considering that while it was owned by the state, it was losing 1 million dollars a day (...) Sure we have some good privatizations in the industry as well. About everything that works today under the names of Alro, Mechel, TMK and others. There was a time when the reason for the privatization was a topic of political war. People singled out some failed famous privatizations, mirroring the opinions that we are selling our country for nothing etc".

Gabriel Zbârcea, Managing Partner at law firm Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii, considers that any major investment has a multiplier effect in the economy. He explain