The 2007 enlargement of the European Union placed Romania in a uniquely favorable position. The lack of trade barriers engaged Romanian investors towards EU market and the business cooperation between Europe and Asia/Africa lifted Romania to become the East-gate for trade to the EU.

Nonetheless, the main deterrents for those who would be interested in approaching those markets are currently based on the lack of knowledge of the target market which imply contacts, language, culture and its needs and also the lack of financial instruments such as the insurances.

The program seeks to encourage business opportunities also for the actors with a post-conflict reconstruction context like Kosovo, where we organized the visit of a Romanian business delegation in order to promote our common efforts. It has also brought to the fore the issue of strengthening professional ties between Romania and Kosovo through serious, informed discussion, by getting Romanian business representatives together with Kosovar counterparts and decision makers at the same table.

Global Focus is building a platform for research and networking aiming to link business people, state authorities, NGOs and think-tanks in Romania. We also target countries for improved mutual knowledge to facilitate cooperation with the government in order to provide a more investment-friendly measures.

Our initiative materialized within the project Emerging Europe – a platform that is meant to smooth interaction and cooperation among Central and Eastern European states. To accomplish our initiative we looked at regional cooperation formats inspired by other European models such as the Nordic Council.