"The New EU 2 Bulgaria and Romania" Initiative

      After seven years of preparation, Bulgaria and Romania became full members of the European Union on January 1, 2007. This marks the sixth enlargement of the EU, bringing the total number of member states to 27. "This enlargement has consolidated peace and brought more prosperity to Europe. This is the right decision for Bulgaria and for Romania, and this is the right decision for Europe," declared Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

     CS Bulgaria and CS Romania took advantage of this historic achievement and joined forces to create a marketing campaign dubbed “New EU 2; Bulgaria & Romania”. The initiative encourages US firms to consider placing their EU footprint in a combined market of approximately 30 million consumers.

     More EU does not mean less U.S.! Our total bilateral trade with the last 10 new members increased 60 percent between 2003 and 2006.  U.S. exports in the region almost doubled during this time period, reaching 6.5 billion in 2006. By partnering with a company in the “New EU 2”, U.S. firms not only have a comparatively inexpensive gateway to the EU, but they can also access billions of euros of EU structural funding currently available to Bulgaria and Romania.   

     The “New EU 2 – Bulgaria & Romania” was conceptualized in January 2007 after an extensive CS Bulgaria and CS Romania team training session in Brussels. The program was officially launched in a “New EU 2 Webinar”, organized by the Europe team, in which the SCOs from Bulgaria and Romania presented overviews on the combined markets to interested U.S. firms. A defense, safety and security webinar followed, which was the first in a series of combined best prospects features. That venue was also used to promote the Black Sea Defense and Aerospace Show in Romania in which US firms contracting Expanded Gold Keys for both Bulgarian and Romanian firms received a 10 percent discount.

     US exporters are encouraged to read the “New EU 2” Commercial Guide, available on the CS Bulgaria and CS Romania websites, and then contact one of the offices to discuss which of the products and services is the most appropriate fit to mark their presence in the “New EU 2”:

• The Black Sea Defense and Aerospace Show Expanded Gold Key Service
• Joint International Buyer Program Delegations to the US

• Sector Specific Market Research

Upcoming initiatives “New EU 2” services include:

• Environmental Trade Mission

• Contracting for Coalition Partners Seminar
• Outreach to Targeted US Markets 
• Combined “Best Prospects” Webinars

Recognize these names? 3M, AES, AIG, Alcoa, American Standard, Amway, Avon, Bunge, Cargill, Cisco, Citibank, Coca-Cola, Colgate Palmolive, Delphi, Ernest & Young, GE, Gramercy, HBO, Honeywell Garret, Howard Johnson’s, HP, IBM, Johnson Controls, Kodak, Kraft, Lockheed Martin, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Motorola, News Corp, New Century Holdings, Oracle, Philip Morris, Proctor & Gamble, Qualcomm, RAEF, Socotab, Solectron, Timken, Tishman, UPS, Visa, Washington Group, Xerox...to name a few!  

They are already in the “New EU 2: Bulgaria & Romania”. Shouldn’t your firm be as well?