American Chamber of Commerce in Romania

Bucharest, May 12, 2011: The American Chamber of Commerce in Romania (AmCham Romania) presented the new Board of Directors and its priorities to be pursued during this mandate.

AmCham Romania’s Board of Directors consists of: Alexandra Gãtej (Maldon&Wat)- President, Ionuþ Simion (PwC) – Vice-President, Carmen Neagu (General Electric) – Vice-President, Peter Weiss (Bancpost) – Treasurer and Board Members at large: Wolfgang Schoiswohl (Banca Comerciala Romana), Tibor Pandi (Citibank), Pascal Prigent (GlaxoSmithKline) Radu Enache (Hewlett-Packard), Bogdan Balaci (IBM Romania), Ronald Binkofski ( Microsoft), Anda Todor (Salans).

“AmCham Romania will continue to provide the authorities with the perspective of the business community on initiatives and policies impacting the business climate and increasing Romania’s economic competitiveness through setting concrete directions especially in areas such as taxation, energy & environment, public procurement & PPP (Public Private Partnerships) and in view of Romania’s preparation for the next EU financial programming” declared Alexandra Gãtej, the AmCham President.

In terms of taxation, AmCham Romania advocates for the modernization of the tax administration system through defining performance indicators regarding the level and efficiency of the budget revenues collection, an area where Romania ranks very law on EU average.

In the area of energy, AmCham Romania calls on the authorities’ attention to the importance of the energy sector as basis for developing a competitive economy. Creating a stable, transparent, predictable, long-term energy policy is in AmCham’s view a priority for attracting investments and developing a stable energy infrastructure.

AmCham will also continue to signal the deficiencies of the PPP legislation and will promote solutions for its improvement. AmCham wants PPPs to be a tool for attracting private capital inflows through the PPP mechanism, and will advocate for a clear, transparent, applicable legislation, aligned to the EU regulation.

An important AmCham recommendation is aimed at Romania’s necessary preparation for the next EU financial programming between 2014- 2020. Along with efforts to increase the absorption rate of the EU available funds, Romania must be an active contributor to the new EU financial planning cycle to be based on the EU 2020 strategy.

In addition to these areas of focus, AmCham has working groups dedicated to: healthcare, labor market & education, public procurement, structural funds, information technology & communications, corporate governance, competition and capital markets.



About AmCham Romania:
The American Chamber of Commerce in Romania (AmCham Romania) is a leading professional business association having a significant contribution in the consultation process on legislation and norms impacting the business enviroment in Romania. Along its 18 years of activity, AmCham remained firmly engaged in facilitating an open dialogue between the authorities and the business community it represents. Our members’ expertise is offered to authorities through working groups dedicated working groups such as tax, healthcare, energy, competition, information and communications technology, labor market, human resources and educations, public procurement, tourism, infrastructure and corporate governance.
AmCham Romania represents 300 members – U.S., international and local companies with total investments above 10 billion USD and around 150.000 jobs created. AmCham Romania is affiliated to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the European Council of American Chambers of Commerce.

Contact:
Andreea Roman, Communication Manager/ E: aroman@amcham.ro/ T: 021 312 48 34/ www.amcham.ro