Mirela Roman
Mirela Roman
罗马尼亚国家银行对外交流局局长
Closer ties make us stronger via the New Silk Road
Mirela Roman
Dear Friends,
It is a privilege for me to address to such a distinguished audience. I would like to thank the organizers for inviting me to discover the amazing opportunities of such gatherings as well as of the China.
In mid-70’s among the futurologists’ “irrational” hypothesis was that by the year 2000 China will become a major economic player worldwide. I actually heard that story in the late 80s as student of the Academy for Economic Studies in Bucharest and I was asking my parents who visited China back in 1988 whether that might be true. “For sure!”, was the straight answer of the most trustful eye-witnesses for me - my parents. Ever since then not only that the hypothesis was confirmed by reality but I had constantly followed our Chinese friends’ major developments and breakthroughs, and, as founding member of Romanian-Chinese Friendship Association, I tried to support and boost our cooperation and long-standing relationship.
Romania’s win-win bilateral relationship with China was the unique product of its own historical time even before 1989.
The recent decades brought tremendous and comprehensive changes for both our countries as well as for the Central and East European region. The deep transformations of fundamentals of both China and these countries, including Romania, their new priorities and alliances, their different path of development have not altered the solid base for the friendship. The outburst of global financial and economic crisis in 2007 reshaped the economic environment for all the actors in the world arena. It revealed the hidden flaws in each country’s own development model, testing the resilience of their economies. At the same time, an untapped potential in their economic relations was brought to light. I know in Chinese the sign for crisis means also opportunities, therefore windows of valuable opportunities have emerged. New initiatives within a changed framework were aimed at reinforcing China relations, governed by the EU-China strategic partnership and by the new China-CEE16 initiative.
To date, the bulk of economic ties between China and the EU have been concentrated in the bilateral relationship mainly with Germany, France, the UK, and a few others. Still, recently, another group of European countries has distinguished itself in its relation with China.
The CEE16 states, our countries, share several common features and significant competitive advantages compared to the EU15, which so far enjoyed the bulk of trade, capital movement and technology flows with China. The CEE states hybrid status, between that of an emerging and a developed economy, blending EU members as well as yet-to-become or non-EU states, highlights development opportunities in the context of higher, catching-up growth rates and lower labor costs; they have a considerable endowment with natural resources, educated human capital and technological know-how but also sizeable demand for investments in infrastructure, energy, agriculture and certain branches of manufacturing, all of them of interest to China; their direct connections with Western Europe makes them a “bridgehead” for the Chinese companies as well as an important link in the New Silk Road initiative.
As the CEE region, with their opened economies and increased economic freedom, are pushing ahead towards more EU integration, their catching-up strategies require fresh capital, more investments and increased flows of quality goods and services. China is swiftly making its growth model more inclusive, rebalancing both at home, by pushing domestic consumption, as well as internationally. That shift could be pivotal for matching interests and creating a solid foundation for initiatives aimed at cementing ties with the CEE region and the EU.
China’s successful change, its careful building on the past in pursuit of an even better future, is well illustrated by a motto of Tsinghua University that I’ve picked up from an address by Madame Christine Lagarde: “Self-discipline and social commitment”. In the context of ongoing global challenges this motto may serve as a good lesson that China may share with others in the drive to forge new partnerships and strengthen cooperation in many domains.
China’s Twelve Measures for promoting cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries is undoubtedly charting the way forward. However the key for any successful result resides in the efforts of both partners. A country’s own success will depend on how effectively it cooperates with the others. Therefore each of the partners - I would dare to call them friends - should strive to identify the best ways to get the most of this window of opportunity and to coordinate among them to design a group strategy and maximize results.
For Romania in particular, the seventh largest country in the EU in terms of surface and population, we should do all our best to regain what used to be a privileged position as investment destination for China – a decade ago my country ranked second in Europe in terms of Chinese FDI, after Germany. Chinese FDI ranks now the 18th in the top of foreign investments in Romania, far below potential.
Romanian-Chinese two-way trade reached about 2.5 billion USD in the first seven months this year, but Romania still runs a substantial deficit in this equation as many of our goods reach the Chinese market via third part intermediary.
The untapped potential lies in various areas of the economy – energy, agriculture, transport, IT&C as well as the financial sector, tourism and free trade zones given the exceptional capabilities Romania has at the Black Sea. With Chinese technological and financial support Romania may serve as a hub for development of regional networks, including major cross-border infrastructure, energy and IT&C projects.
And it’s not only trade, economy or finance routes that count in our bilateral or multilateral dimension in the advent of a rapid advance of communications and technologies. Education, cultural exchanges as well as climate changes are constant challenges for each of us and should definitely rank high in our cooperation. Just to point that Romania enjoys the opening of Confucius Institutes in several universities across the country while only recently the Romanian Cultural Institute has launched its activities in Beijing.
The climate aspect also makes me think of a well-known concept Made in China: “Harmony of Human Beings and Nature”. It applies not only to people and the environment but also to China and the whole world as well as to the present and the future.
I have to confess that I still treasure my first pen, a Panda pen as well as the sweet feeling of the Chocolate Gold Bar, both coming from China in late 70s.
Our kids, among who future young leaders will grow, are going to treasure what they have learned from us about our relationship.
A wise Chinese proverb said” Each generation will reap what the former generation has sown”. China has already a leading position in the global economy. Its youth leaders along with ours need to get closer, to find the right balance between boldness and prudence and to implement the right policies to make a unique contribution to the progress of the entire world.
As globalization helps strengthen our traditional friendship, the abilities to extract the essence of what we offer and share are also challenged. The best way to overcome challenges is to work together, to share experiences and values, to cooperate and get practical results of the common efforts.
I would like to conclude by using a wise say by Lao Tzu: “The most empowering way is to inspire people so that they become able to realize their own potential.” And I would just add my favorite Confucius saying: „Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I’ll remember, involve me and I’ll understand”. ENDS HERE
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