By Andrei Lungu
The Republic of Korea is Romania's second largest export market in the Asia-Pacific, bilateral trade being stimulated by the Korea-European Union Free Trade Agreement. Nonetheless, there are still many opportunities left for the development of trade. For example, Romanian wine is well-regarded throughout the world; but in 2017, it exported less than $30,000 worth of wine to Korea, compared with about $3 million in exports that headed to China.
There are also many opportunities for Korean and Romanian companies to invest in each other's country. Last year, Romania's GDP growth rate of 6.9 percent was the second highest in the European Union. Romania's EU membership means companies based here have free access to a common market of almost 500 million consumers. Romania also has a well-trained and educated workforce, but one providing a competitive advantage in labor costs compared to Western Europe, thus facilitating exports to other EU members. The tax system is also very favorable, with the personal income tax recently lowered to just 10 percent and a corporate income tax of 16 percent.
Most importantly, Romania is emerging as a regional information and communications technology (ICT) hub, thanks to its highly skilled engineers and its innovative entrepreneurs. Numerous Western IT companies have set up shop in Romania, both for research and development, and for technical support. Korean companies could follow this trend, as the two governments have already signed a memorandum of understanding regarding IT.
But relations between Korea and Romania aren't limited to trade and investments. Scores of young Romanians are in love with Korean culture, K-pop and K-dramas. Over the past decade, hallyu has swept Romania and many students have started learning Korean, also taking advantage of educational opportunities to study in Korea. These young Romanians passionate about Korea could play an important role in strengthening bilateral relations in the future. The Romanian language is taught in Korea as well, at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, which has had dozens of graduates in the past years.
The academic field can be one of the main areas of focus in developing the strategic partnership between Romania and Korea, creating more opportunities for Korean studies in Romania (which, up to now, have focused just on language and cultural studies), encouraging more student and professor exchanges and more partnerships between universities, on joint research projects.
Ten years after the signing of the strategic partnership between Romania and Korea, relations are stronger than ever, providing numerous benefits and opportunities for both countries. But, most importantly, there are still many avenues left to strengthen relations and make this strategic partnership even more productive. The past ten years make us optimistic that cooperation will deepen on multiple fronts and, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Romania-Korea strategic partnership, there will be even more achievements to celebrate.
Andrei Lungu (andrei.lungu@risap.ro) is president of the Romanian Institute for the Study of the Asia-Pacific (RISAP).
