Romania

bună ziua! (Hello!)

The Republic of Romania lies in south-eastern Europe, at the geographic centre of the continent. The Carpathian Mountains run through the country in a large arc. The Danube forms a natural boundary to Bulgaria and Serbia in the south and south-east. Romania joined the European Union in 2007 and is home to some 21 million people. The export sector is one of the main drivers of growth in the country along with agriculture, an industry in which one-third of the Romanian population is employed. Major challenges include the ongoing reform of the public administration and the task of closing the gap between the quickly developing cities and the low-income rural regions. Romania’s retail landscape is characterised by a low density of companies. In contrast to countries such as Poland and Hungary, where national retail companies play an important role, the Romanian market is dominated by Western European retailers that have increasingly established a foothold in the country since 2007.