Central and Eastern Europe: Assessment of the Economic and Commercial Mission of La Francophonie

The OIF, in collaboration with the Romanian authorities, organized an Economic and Commercial Mission of La Francophonie in Bucharest, from March 27 to 29, 2024.
The Economic and Commercial Mission of La Francophonie in Central and Eastern Europe came to a successful conclusion after two and a half days of intense activities as part of a program oriented towards the identification and realization of business and commercial opportunities. investment in agri-food, digital (video games and cybersecurity), renewable energies and medical in Romania, and between Romania and the other member countries of La Francophonie.  The very positive results of this fourth Economic and Commercial Mission of La Francophonie live up to their main objective, which aims to enable participating companies to explore new markets, find new partners, identify and realize new business and investment opportunities by bringing together in a region, a country, several hundred companies from across the French-speaking world.
Led by the Administrator of the OIF, Ms. Caroline St-Hilaire, the international delegation of 100 companies and economic players from 25 member states and governments held more than 1,000 business meetings with nearly 230 Romanian companies . The participating companies largely expressed their satisfaction with the quality of the program and its implementation, the diversity of the companies recruited in terms of country of origin, sectoral affiliation and size, as well as expert support for business meetings. Several of them immediately considered signing commercial contracts or opening discussions around local establishments. 
On this occasion, the OIF Administrator spoke with Ms. Luminița Odobescu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania. She also had several discussions with participating companies to inquire about their needs and expectations regarding support from the OIF. Following on from previous editions in Asia-Pacific (Vietnam and Cambodia), Central Africa (Gabon and Rwanda) and the Middle East (Lebanon), this mission to Central and Eastern Europe contributed to strengthening the French-speaking economic area in through the multiplication of exchanges between its member countries and regions. The next Economic and Commercial Mission of La Francophonie will be held from June 11 to 13, 2024, in Montreal and Quebec, in North America.