At the request of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Technology (BMWi) and the Federal Agency for Foreign Trade (bfai) a special trip to Romania is organized during which participants are given the possibility to learn more about issues relating to water and environmental engineering. The trip is organized by the European Institute for Technology Proliferation (EITEP). It will take place in the period from June 17th to June 20th 2007 on the occastion of the EXPO APA trade fair.
In Romania about 30% of the population live without being connected to major drinking water supply lines and sewage plants. About 50 cities including the capital Bucharest dump their waste water untreated into rivers or the sea. Half of the existing 1500 sewage plants do not comply with EU standards. Due to a decade long negligence of environmental issues in Romania the demand for investment in the fields of environmental protection and energy supply is very high. Over the next 15 years Romania will have to invest about 29 billion Euros in these areas in order to meet the standards agreed upon with the EU in the course of accession talks. Saving potentials and demand for improvement is to be found in all kinds of areas, even though the biggest share of investment will go to the field of water/waste water (10.1 billion Euros) followed by air purification (9.1 billion Euros), energy and waste disposal (2.7 billion Euros) as well as incineration plants.
According to the organizers, there will be good opportunities for German companies to do business. The trip is to help in particular small and medium-sized entities to take advantage of business opportunities there.
The BMWi will cover all the costs relating to planning and organization of the entire trip. Costs for flight, overnight stays and catering are to be borne by participants themselves. In addition an amount of 100 Euros plus Vat will be charged for each participant for receptions and collective transport in Bucharest. Further information and a registration form are available on EITEP´s website. Registrations should arrive no later than April 25th. 