Bucharest, November 27, 2007 - The World Bank Office in Romania hosted today a focus group meeting on the Competitiveness in Electricity Sector in Romania.   High level managers of  the energy companies, policy makers, parlamentarians participated in the event.  Mr. Benoit Blarel, Country Manager of the World Bank Office in Romania, welcomed the participants and wished them open and constructive discussions on challenges and opportunities affecting the competitiveness of the Romanian electricity sector.

The focus group meeting is part of a series of sessions organized in the context of the Competitiveness Assessment Study.  The project will assess Romania’s viability as a location for private investment, benchmark the key sectors in which the country has a comparative advantage, and prepare a strategy for building on these advantages. The study will make recommendations for implementation, including policies and institutional reforms for increasing the strategy’s impact and sustainability.Arthur D. Little, the international consulting firm, has been commissioned by IFC to conduct the study, which is cofunded by IFC and the Government of Spain. The local partner is the Group of Applied Economics.