Florin-Nicolae Jianu, Romania’s Minister for SME’s, Business Environment and Tourism, outlines Romania’s many attractions as a target for European investments. The minister previously served as the President of the European Union of Young Entrepreneurs and of the Young Entrepreneurs Association in Romania, and he is dedicated to making Romania an ideal business environment for innovative companies. He is typical of Romania’s new breed of young ministers who have a strong background in business.
European Times: How is your ministry supporting entrepreneurship and SMEs?
Florin-Nicolae Jianu: Romania needs to build an open, business-friendly environment. The government is implementing new regulations and procedures to make things easier for SMEs. These include applying an “SME test” to all new laws, observing the “only once” principle whereby new SMEs only have to present their business applications one time, and a new law providing incentives for start-ups. In only two and a half years, the new law on start-ups has supported the creation of 14,000 new businesses with a total 26,000 employees. Our SME strategy for 2020 is to promote entrepreneurship, ensure access to financing and to markets, foster innovation, and encourage the public sector to support SMEs. We are creating offices within the ministry to promote entrepreneurship, investment and access to financing. We are also creating incubators and other initiatives to stimulate the creation of new types of businesses. Through these efforts and our “Romanian Hub” initiative, we aim to position Romania as a European hub for entrepreneurship.
European Times: What are some of your ministry’s current projects in support of the tourism sector?
Florin-Nicolae Jianu: Our national tourism agency reports directly to this ministry concerning projects and strategies. Most companies in the tourism sector are SMEs, so our support of SMEs benefits them. Our ministry is working to give the tourism sector the tools it needs to be more competitive. One recent project is tourism clusters, which are eligible for EU funding, and another is “holiday vouchers”, which the government provides to private-sector employees for tourism in Romania.
European Times: What is your personal message about why foreign investors should choose Romania?
Florin-Nicolae Jianu: Romania offers a stable economy, a government committed to supporting SMEs and foreign investors, and a number of incentives, including tax breaks. European investors can count on the complete support of my ministry for their ventures here in Romania. I have never met a foreign investor in Romania who was unhappy about being here.
