Adequate Logistics Policies Could Add 150,000 New Jobs In Romania By 2025 - PwC

05.18.2011 By Andrei Circhelan

The enactment of adequate transport and logistics policies could add up to EUR25 billion to Romania’s gross domestic product by 2025, as well as create up to 150,000 new jobs, according to experts present Wednesday at a seminar.

The "Romania's next step in becoming the Eastgate Trade Hub of Central and Eastern Europe" conference was organized by logistics firm Archicom, European Gateways Platform, Dutch-Romanian Network, The Romanian-Dutch Chamber of Commerce and PricewaterhouseCoopers Romania. Talks referred to Romania's possibilities to increase its competitiveness in Europe, by turning the Constanta Harbor into a trade hub for Central and Eastern Europe, according to a PwC Romania news release.

Measures proposed to this end include VAT deferment for all companies no matter the value of the imports, global fiscal representation, additional incentives for authorized economic agents, custom duties deferment, an inter-modal transport strategy and development of logistics education in Romania's universities.

"The New EU Member States plus Austria, account today for more than 12% of EU's GDP, yet the region attracts less than 1% of the sea freight coming to Europe. That is a huge imbalance, estimated by our calculations at more than 5 million containers TEU/year and 20 billion tons of bulk commodities, goods coming mostly from Eastern Asia and the Middle East, that should enter the region directly, but are transiting through North-Western Europe," said Robin Martens, managing director of the European Gateways Platform and director general of Archicom Romania.