Visit to Cluj

Cluj-Napoca was not a surprising choice for my first official visit outside Bucharest. And not just because it is Romania’s second city. The thriving British Business Group of Transylvania is testimony to the strength of the British business community, and I was delighted to meet up with its members at a local Indian restaurant.

From database management services to online betting, what united many of the companies I met was the attraction of skilled young graduates, especially in IT-related disciplines, emerging from local universities. In Cluj, as in Iasi, where I had undertaken my immersion language training, the close connections between the town’s business community and its universities were striking.

The British Council office in Cluj, which I visited later in the trip, is indeed housed in the chemistry faculty of the Babeș-Bolyai University, reflecting the strength of the partnership between the British institution and the Romanian one.

Another business element to my visit, and a very welcome one, was to participate in the opening ceremony of a new facility of Neal Brothers, a British company specialised in providing world-class packaging solutions for all kinds of goods and equipment. I was delighted to learn that, from small beginnings in Craiova, Neal Brothers has been deepening its footprint in Romania, with operations in Ploiesti and now Cluj, providing excellent service to local firms and jobs for Romanian staff.

I was delighted too to participate in the 20th anniversary celebrations of an enterprising organisation providing first-rate management training, the Centrul de Dezvoltare Manageriala. It was set up with considerable support from the UK’s Department for International Development, and I was pleased to learn that not only has it flourished, but it retains strong links with the UK through partnership with the Roffey Park management institute.

Another welcome development in Cluj is the forthcoming establishment of an executive MBA program provided by the University of Hull, which will be delivered in the premises of the Babeș-Bolyai University. I had seen from myself the success of the Sheffield executive MBA program in Bucharest at a lively alumni reception I hosted at my Residence a few days earlier.

And I had the chance to meet some of the excellent NGOs active in Cluj, with which the British Embassy has worked closely over the years, covering a wide range of areas: the Ratiu Centre for Democracy, Flora & Fauna International, The Little People organisation, which supports children suffering from cancer, and the Duke of Edinburgh International Award. Courtesy of an inspiring Dutchman, Bert Looij of the Pro Roma Foundation, I visited the Roma communities eking out a precarious existence on and around a municipal rubbish dump at Pata Rat, as well as the kindergarten facilities provided by Pro Roma at the community known – with perhaps some irony – as ‘Dallas’.

The visit also of course included discussions with the local authorities, politicians of different political hues and the local press.

There is a regular direct flight connection between London and Cluj. This is a Romanian city which is close to the UK in many ways.