The event brought altogether, for the first time, over 150 representatives of the Norwegian business community in Romania and their Romanian partners, project promoters under the two financial programmes with Norway as main donor, namely the EEA Grants (40 projects, as well as 47 projects under the EEA NGO Fund)) and the Norwegian Cooperation Programme known as Norway Grants (29 projects), as well as guests from other Western European embassies or institutions which have different grant-making schemes and cooperation programmes with Romania.
The discussions during the morning session of the conference focused on topics of high interest related to the present economic and financial situation and prospects for the near future and in the long run, as well as on aspects related to cultural differences and communication in business and bilateral cooperation, particularly between Romanians and Norwegians. Relevant contributions and input were brought by three guest speakers from the banking sectors: Mr. Tonny Lybek, IMF Resident Representative in Romania and Bulgaria, Mr. Valentin Lazea, Chief-economist, The National Bank of Romania, and Mr. Mişu Negriţoiu, General Manager, ING Romania. A Norwegian specialist in cultural differences, Mr. Pellegrino Riccardi, gave the audience an interesting introspective upon the cultural differences between the Scandinavian and Latin approaches and mentalities, which influence the communication and cooperation in bilateral business and project cooperation. You may view all the presentations by the guest speakers here: presentation Pellegrino Riccardi, presentation IMF Romania, presentation BNR, presentation ING Bank.
Presentations of the results achieved in the joint Romanian – Norwegian projects funded through Norway Grants were available in the afternoon session of the conference, moderated by Innovation Norway, the administrator of Norway Grants programme. On this occasion, all the Norway Grants promoters/partners were encouraged to share their experience in their projects with the audience.
“I am also glad to announce that there is more to come in terms of funding for Romania. Negotiations are currently ongoing between the EEA-EFTA- countries (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) and the EU for a new five-year period of financial contribution. In the new financial mechanism the Norwegian contribution to Romania will be considerably increased. The results of the negotiations will be known next year and the new round to be launched by the end of the year.” underlined Ambassador Øystein Hovdkinn in his statement during the conference.