AmCham Romania announces the new structure of the Board of Directors, following the General Meeting of Members and elections at the end of March.

Cristian Sporiș, Vice-President, Head of Corporate Banking at Raiffeisen Bank Romania, has been re-elected President of AmCham Romania for a new mandate. Daniela Nemoianu, Senior Partner at Nemoianu Consulting Tax & Law, and Dinu Bumbăcea, Country Managing Partner at PwC Romania, were elected Vice-Presidents, while Luminița Runcan, Deputy CEO at Banca Transilvania, serves as Treasurer. Alongside them, the AmCham Romania Board of Directors includes: Jovan Radosavljevic - General Manager, Coca-Cola HBC; Vlad Boeriu - Tax & Legal Partner-in-Charge, Deloitte Romania; Claudia Sofianu - Partner, Tax & Law Department, People Advisory Services Leader, EY Romania; Elisabeta Moraru - Country Director, Google Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldova, and Romania; Roxana Botea – Country Director, Johnson & Johnson Romania; Gabriela Popescu - Head of Legal Affairs, Central Europe, Microsoft; Ciprian Laduncă – Managing Partner, LCL Advisory; Alexandru Mihailciuc - VP Sales Engineering EMEA, UiPath; and Achilleas Kanaris - President & CEO, Vodafone.

At the outset of the new term, President Cristian Sporiș expresses the commitment of AmCham and its more than 560 member companies operating across 32 economic sectors to contribute to Romania's prosperity with the same dedication that the AmCham community has shown over the past 30 years in the Romanian business environment. "For 2024 AmCham has committed to an intense agenda to support economic cooperation with the United States of America. After two impactful editions in Bucharest, in June, we will take the “U.S. - Romania Economic Forum” to Washington D.C., for the first time. We will promote Romania as a destination for American investments, a visibility our country needs in order to become a significant launchpad for companies engaging in the international effort to rebuild Ukraine. During the same period, mirroring the promotion of Romania as a destination for American investors, we support Romanian companies looking to access the U.S. market, within the context of the largest investment summit – SelectUSA. We are also part of the joint effort endorsed by both administrations for Romania to meet the criteria for inclusion in the U.S. Visa Waiver program. All employees of AmCham member companies benefit from a priority channel for scheduling U.S. visa interviews, providing them the most favorable context to apply for a U.S. visa now so they can travel without this concern whenever they need in the future. In view of increasing the country’s investment rating, we consider Romania's accession process to the OECD a strategic national objective that must be pursued with the same commitment, especially in an election year, to keep up with the assumed trajectory and to benefit from this status as soon as possible. As all these objectives require a sustained pace of reforms and investments, a prudent fiscal budget policy, and a transparent and predictable investment climate, AmCham will remain at the forefront of public-private dialogue to advance our business community's vision in a constructive manner."

Of the new mandate priorities, AmCham Vice-president Daniela Nemoianu outlines several central themes for the business community and the overall economic development. "In AmCham's vision, 2024 is a decisive year for maximizing the use of European funding, both from the NRRP (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) and from operational programs. Investments in transportation infrastructure, education, healthcare, energy, digitization, green transition, in other words, in everything affecting the quality of life and economic competitiveness, must continue because they bring value in the present through the multiplier effect on the economy and are necessary conditions for prosperity in the future. An essential pillar for Romania's competitiveness is the human capital. AmCham has signaled the increasing concern regarding the cost of the qualitative and quantitative workforce deficit, which requires urgent interventions. This year, we will delve deeper into one of the systemic causes of the crisis impacting the business environment, namely the high rate of early school dropout. Another standalone AmCham project that has reached a new stage of development is the Bucharest International Arbitration Court – BIAC, a real and efficient alternative for the swift resolution of commercial disputes, accessible to companies whether they are affiliated with AmCham or not."

AmCham Vice President Dinu Bumbăcea outlines a series of priorities related to flagship projects as well as other initiatives that will be on AmCham's agenda. "2024 is an election year, which means AmCham will share with the political and decision-making environment members' vision and a series of strategic directions for Romania's development over the next 4 years. 'Priorities for Romania,' launched by AmCham every year with general and presidential elections, provides a roadmap for both the economy as a whole and for sectors that either have the largest share in the economy or the greatest potential for growth and attracting capital. 'Priorities for Romania' is AmCham's invitation to anchor future development in a coherent vision, endorsed across the political spectrum, and at the same time correlated with regional dynamics and with mega-trends that drive the global economy. Separately, we will analyze Romania's investment offer to identify the most relevant competitive advantages that can enhance Romania's relevance and role at the regional and European level, and also in relation to the economic cooperation with the U.S. Resources in areas such as energy or the performance of the tech sector so far will not be sufficient to maintain the same growth rate or competitiveness compared to countries in the region. We are equally concerned about the short-term priorities that companies have, and through this year's edition of the AmCham Business Barometer, we will measure the impact of last year’s fiscal and economic policies on 2023 operational results and on investment plans also."