“Italy hasn’t discovered Romania a few months or years ago, but has placed its bet on Romania’s economic future long time ago,” he said, cited by local Economica.net.

The bilateral trade between the two countries amounts to EUR 12 billion, the Italian Minister added. Gentiloni made a visit to Bucharest on July 9, during which he met with Romania’s Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu.

In Romania, there were over 40,000 active companies controlled by Italian investors as of May 2015, by far the highest number of firms with foreign capital in Romania.

Italy was the 7th largest foreign investor in Romania by the value of capital invested, with over EUR 1.54 billion, according to Romania’s National Trade Registry’s Office (ONRC). (source: Romania-insider.com)