To mark 25 years of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and the United States of America and look forward to the next decades, AmCham Romania invites members to the kick-off event of the “U.S.–ROMANIA ECONOMIC FORUM: FROM SECURITY TO PROSPERITY” on September 28, 2022, between 08:00 am -12:30 pm at JW Marriott Grand Hotel, Grand Ballroom. The event is organized with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest and Aspen Institute Romania, and will be followed by a series of roundtables on major policy issues throughout the fall.

While cooperation in the defense and security areas has been the backbone of the Strategic Partnership over the past decades, the full potential of bilateral economic cooperation is yet to be tapped into. In this context, AmCham Romania launches a policy-industry dialogue on the state of the Strategic Partnership and the next steps for boosting Romania’s profile as an investment destination for American businesses and strengthening economic ties between Romania and the United States. The Forum welcomes the participation of high-level representatives of the U.S. administration and of the Romanian authorities, along with members of the business community.

HIGHLIGHTS of the Forum

• Key-note remarks by Don Graves, Deputy Secretary of Commerce, the highest-ranking U.S. Official to join an AmCham Romania event
• Key-note remarks by Jose W. Fernandez, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, U.S. Department of State
• On behalf of the Romanian authorities, Alina Gorghiu, Acting President of the Senate of Romania and Sorin Grindeanu, Deputy Prime Minister of Romania will deliver key-note remarks
• Main conclusions of the AmCham Romania ”Study on economic relations between Romania and the U.S.” conducted by UBB Cluj-Napoca
• Public-Private dialogue and networking opportunities

The Forum Agenda:

8:00 - 9:00 Registration

9:00 – 9:10 Welcome Speeches

• Ionuț Simion, President, AmCham Romania
• David Muniz, Chargé d’Affaires U.S. Embassy, Honorary President AmCham Romania

9:10 – 10:00 Key-note Remarks

• Alina-Ștefania Gorghiu, Acting President, Senate of Romania
• Don Graves, Deputy Secretary of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce
• Sorin Grindeanu, Vice Prime Minister
• Jose W. Fernandez, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, U.S. Department of State
• Mircea Geoană, Deputy Secretar General, NATO (online address)

10:00 – 10:15 Break

10:15 – 11:30 Dialogue on strengthening the economic ties between Romania and the U.S.A.

Ionuț Simion, President, AmCham Romania (presentation of the main conclusions of the AmCham Romania ”Study on economic relations between Romania and the U.S.”)

Interventions by American investors

• Ford Romania, Josephine Payne, President Ford Otosan Craiova
• IBM, Marta Branska, CEO
• Honeywell, Mihai Brana, CEO
• Emerson, Alina Negru, General Manager
• GE Healthcare, Alexandra Munteanu, Country Manager Romania & Moldova
• Cargill, Vasile Varavoi, CEO
• FintechOS, Sergiu Neguț, Co-Founder, EVP

Interventions by members of the Romanian Government

• Florin Spătaru, Minister Economy
• Adrian Câciu, Minister of Finance
• Virgil Popescu, Minister of Energy
• Sebastian Burduja, Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitalization
• Alexandru Rafila, Minister of Health

 11:15 – 11:35 Conclusions

Ionuț Simion, President, AmCham Romania

11:35 – 12:00 Networking

Participantion is open to AmCham Romania members and partners based on prior confirmation here, by September 23, 2022, EOB.