THE DANGER OF "PUTING ALL THE EGGS IN ONE BASKET". SOME CONCERNS REGARDING ROMANIA'S EXTERNAL TRADE

Trade patterns across the globe vary in certain ways. For the EU27, the analyzed data suggests that approximately 70% of all Romania's imports, and the same amount of its exports, are intra-community oriented. The question that arises is what will happen to te Romania's external trade, if a crisis hits Europe? If countries like Germany, France, Italy, and United Kingdom are hit the hardest in this hypothetical European crisis, Romania will soon follow them. In order to decrease the impact of such possibility, it is necessary to tap new trade opportunities. For this purpose, first we have to analyze the present situation. Based on Eurostat, World Trade Organization, and the Romanian Statistics Institute data from 1999 to 2009, and on the works about trade creation (Balassa 1965, Jovanovic 2005, Molle 2006), the paper wants to point out the aspects of trade concentration in certain regions after the establishment of free trade agreements, and the danger posed by financial crises. This paper analyzes first the situation in the EU27, scanning each member state in order to see the degree of trade relations intra / extra - EU. The data will be than compared to another set of analyzes of other four important regions, the Andean Community, ASEAN, MERCOSUR, and NAFTA, whose free trade agreements could support such of comparison with the EU trade relations. The paper follows the assumption that EU27 has the most integrated trade relations among all the analyzed regions. Based on this assumption and on statistical data that points out the percentage change of total imports and exports in the Romanian GDP, some conclusions will be drown out in order to establish some necessary measures to prevent a future crisis, measures that involve the political class, taping new trade opportunities such as Latin American countries, Middle Eastern countries, and South-East Asia, but not forgetting Russia, Romania's former main export partner, establishing clear objectives to future embassy personnel, and a more aggressive advertising campaign in the selected target markets conducted by national agencies.free trade agreements, custom union, Romania's trade relations, imports, exports

SUSTENABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ROMANIAN ECONOMY BY ADOPTING THE CHINESE MODEL OF SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES

The architecture of the Chinese economy began to take shape in the late 1980's, because of the new reforms that the Chinese Communist Party started to take. With the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, the Chinese leadership is taken by Deng Xiaoping, who stated a blitz course in capitalism. The new president encouraged foreign direct investments by creating special economic zones near the costal cities, were foreign companies obtained several tax brakes and other incentives, only to invest in those regions. With the help of statistical data from WTO, IMF, and the World Bank, the current paper analyzes the impact of these special economic zones on the Chinese economy, raging from mutations in the labor market and economic sectors structure and their evolution in the formation of the GDP, FDI inflows, and last but not least external trade and current account situation. On the other hand, the paper tries to make a connection with Romania, computing and predicting, based on the Chinese figures, the way in which the Romanian economy, by creating four economic zones within the counties of Satu Mare, Bihor, Arad, and Constanţa, will be able to experience the same growth. The first three counties have been piked up based on their proximity to the Schengen area, and/or on their infrastructure, plain terrain, and a qualified and skilled labour force. Constanţa, the only one that resembles with its Chinese counterparts, has been considered because of its capabilities of shipping products right away as they are manufactured. The results would decrease the disparity that exists in revenue levels across Romania, Bucharest leading the group way ahead of the other counties. Foreign direct investments in those areas will attract more others made by the local authorities in the infrastructure (schools, universities, roads, airports, high speed railways). This development will have a direct impact on the current account of the Romania's balance sheet of payments, while its external trade deficit will reduce in time, even transforming in a trade surplus, and helping this way in putting an end to the chronically external debt.special economic zones, counties, external trade, economic impact, foreign direct investment

THE BALANCE OF PAYMENTS' SUSTAINABILITY AND THE EUROZONE ACCESSION CONVERGENCE CRITERIA

The main purpose of the balance of payments (BoP) is identified as representing the long term need of equilibrium and stability of the international payments and revenues. The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors that influence the balance of payments of a certain country, by using a rigorous classification that reveals the complexity of these factors. Our conclusions are very relevant, especially for countries like Romania, because, in order to achieve the external equilibrium, it seems that every county must adopt a mix of internal economic policies, and although theoretically this can be realised, sometimes in practice it can prove to be impossible on account of inability or refusing to combine the appropriate economic policies.balance of payments, sustainability, Euro area, convergence criteria, foreign direct investments, portfolio investments, external operations

THE EU ACCESSION AND THE IMPACT ON ROMANIA’S FOREIGN TRADE AND COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE

Romania’s accession to the EU was a difficult task, but doable. However, the results of this accession are only now taking shape in the form of export orientation and competitiveness. This paper thoroughly analyses the aspects regarding Romania’s foreign trade, based on the classification used by Lall (2000), with the data provided by the National Institute of Statistics on the Combined Nomenclature XXII sections, covering the 1991 – 2012 period. Furthermore, the paper addresses the concept of comparative advantage based on the Lafay indicator of Romania’s foreign trade during 1991 - 2012. The indicator is calculated based on the statistical data offered by the National Institute of Statistics of the combined nomenclature with its XXII sections combined with Lall (2000) classification. The conclusions based on prior results try to assess whether the accession to the EU has had a beneficial or harmful effect on Romania’s international trade and its comparative advantages.</jats:p

The Influence of foliar fertilization on different soybean genotypes

Soybean is one of the most important leguminous crops due to its high oil and protein content with a significant role in nutrition. Micronutrients for soybean growth and development are very important and foliar fertilization is used to overcome environmental stress and help soybean plants to fill their nutritive needs. The research was carried out in 2020 by the Soybean Breeding Laboratory from the Agricultural Research and Development Station in Turda, Romania. Foliar fertilization had both positive and negative effects for 1000-grain weight and yield however, quality traits do not seem to be influenced by applying supplement of microelements during the vegetation period. The research suggests that genotype is the determining factor in the efficiency of foliar fertilization. In this sense, the present experiment will continue to bring answers regarding the effects of foliar fertilizers on some soybean genotypes

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT AND THE IMPACT ON EXPORTS AND GDP GROWTH. A BRIEF GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

People have been moving from one area to another since ancient times in order to exchange products from one nation with those from another in order to obtain what was lacking in the nation where they resided. These were the first product-to-product trades, and the latter was placed into circulation on money as a product-to-product trade. These early types of commerce have evolved significantly, and they continue to do so now as capital flows from one country to another. This phenomenon, which has influenced worldwide economic growth and improved living standards, saw significant expansion in the twenty-first century in the form of loans used to fund economic development in many nations, as well as ownership of financial assets. In the present era, domestic capital is insufficient for countries to thrive and remain competitive in global markets. For emerging economies, foreign investments that enter the host country as debt or money are crucial financial resources. In this paper, we will discuss the data on the development of exports and FDI of 22 countries from around the world and analysed the evolution of FDI, GDP and exports over a period of 40 years to see trends and patterns of FDI and Exports and their contribution to the economic growth of countries. Broken up in groups, the paper will compare and assess certain countries/regions, grouping and pairing them with economies or countries of similar growth/stance. Corroborating this statistics with recent global events and based on the previous statistics, this paper will try to predict the future trends of FDI around the world

Study Regarding Growing and Development Stages at Soybean Genotypes

Soybean is one of the most important sources of vegetable oil and protein. The aim of this study is to evaluate the behavior of 75 European soybean genotypes from four maturity groups regarding the influence of climatic conditions of 2020 on soybean main growing and development stages. The experiment was conducted at the ARDS Turda in 2020, using a complete randomized block design with three replications. Dates of emergence (VE) and beginning of flowering (R1), were recorded for all 75 soybean cultivars from each of the four maturity groups (000 to I). Results obtained show that growing, and development stages of the studied soybean genotypes are according both with: thermal units and daily period from sunrise to sunset. Effects of daylength and temperature on soybean development were estimated. The rate of development to flowering was fastest for the very early genotypes than for genotypes in the semi-early maturity group (MG)

Behavior of some Soybean Genotypes to Fertilization in the Climatic Condition of 2019

Soybeans (Glycine max L. Merril) is the world’s most important seed legume and she is considered a basic food with a high nutritional value. The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of two types of chemical complex fertilizers (NPK 27:13.5:0 and NPK 16:16:16) with four levels of fertilization (unfertilized, 150 kg/ha, 200 kg/ha and 250 kg/ha) on the main soybean growing stages in 2019. Field experiments were conducted in the soil and climate conditions of the Agricultural Research and Development Station from Turda. The vegetation stages of the studied soybean genotypes were influenced by: atypical climatic conditions of this year and also the type of fertilizer and the fertilization dose. By analyzing the experimental data, it was noted that one genotype had longer growing season (Raluca TD variety: 135-140 days), and three genotypes had shortest growing season (Perla variety: 122-125 days; Carla TD variety: 121-123 days; T-295 line: 121-123 days)

Yield at 75 European soybean varieties from different maturity groups in the climatic conditions of the Transylvanian Plain

Soybean being the most important legume plant for grains, the high protein and oil content determines many uses, which leads to expansion of soybean crop areas. The experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research and Development Station Turda (ARDS Turda) in the climatic conditions of the 2018 and 2019. Biological material included 75 Romanian varieties (12) and foreign genotypes (63), from different maturity groups (000 - II). The rainfall and temperature varied in the two-year study which determined differences on average yield obtained for each maturity group. The highest average yield for the maturity groups 00, 0, I, II was obtained in the climatic conditions of the year 2019, instead the behavior of the very early genotypes (000) was different, the year 2018 being more favorable. The maturity group recommended till now for the Transylvanian Plain was very early (000) and early (00), but from the data presented the highest yields were obtained by the maturity groups 0 (2719 kg/ha), I (2895 kg/ha) and I + II (2732 kg/ha). A continuation of the study is required, to establish the suitable maturity group for the new conditions of Transylvanian Plain