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The American Chamber of Commerce in Romania, or AmCham Romania, is a non-profit organization founded in 1993 to help business growth and trade in Romania (AmCham Romania). AmCham Romania is comprised of over 450 member companies that range from simple mom-and-pop shops to large international companies. Since AmCham Romania has many business members, the organization has been able to help their members improve their business practices (AmCham Romania, n.d.). These better business practices have led to more business transactions and investments which has helped to increase the economic competitiveness of the country on a regional and European level. As of today, the organization has been helping its members for over 25 years and has helped to gain over 22 billion dollars in investments and create over 250,000 jobs for Romanians (AmCham Romania, n.d.).
The chamber began in 1993 after the fall of the communist party. The post-communist economy was in turmoil as it had to shift to a market and profit driven economy from a communist economy (Constantin, Goschin, & Danciu, 2011). During this period of economic turmoil, different subsidiaries of American blue-chip companies entered into the country in hopes of expanding and beginning trade relations (U.S. Department of State, 2019). Since these companies wanted to invest in Romania, the Romania-American Trade Agreement was signed which helped to officially establish AmCham Romania.
Yet, the chamber was having a hard time operating as there was a lack of consistency in the new legislative framework of the country (AmCham Romania, n.d.). Therefore, in April of the same year, 1993, a letter was sent to the Prime Minister to signal to the government the issues AmCham was facing. From this interaction, the first advocacy mission was created to establish laws and regulations which allowed for members to continue to join AmCham Romania and for AmCham to flourish into what it is today (AmCham Romania, n.d.).
The goals of AmCham Romania are similar to the goals of other chambers of commerce. In a general sense, a “chamber of commerce” is “an association of business people to promote commercial and industrial interests in the community” (Merriam-Webster.com, 2020). These chambers hope to represent their members and the interests of their members to their respective authorities, policymakers, and regulators through advocacy, policies, and education of the matters at hand (Burton, 2017). Chambers of Commerce can be found in countries all over the world on both a state or county, national, and international level. Yet, they all want to not only further their interest but also further the interests of their community, region, state, or nation by promoting commerce and industry through both direct and indirect action (Popescu, 2016). All chambers want to help their community, region, state, or nation sustain prosperity and grow by helping employers and businesses thrive in their environment (Burton, 2017). As these goals are those of chambers of commerce as a whole, the same goals can be said for AmCham Romania since they are an international chamber of commerce.
Aside from its general goals, AmCham Romania has other goals that are both specific to the chamber and the type of chamber of commerce. AmCham Romania wants to promote its member businesses’ best practices by helping to create an open dialogue between the members and the Romanian authorities to help keep business interactions transparent (AmCham Romania, n.d.). Along with this, AmCham Romania advocates for prosperous business as a prosperous business helps to build prosperity for not only Romania but for Romanians as well.
In conjunction with these goals, there is one other main goal of AmCham Romania that is based upon the type of chamber of commerce. AmCham Romania is an American Chamber of Commerce. American Chambers of Commerce are chambers of commerce that are affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, n.d.). The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the national chamber of commerce of the United States of America and it was founded in April of 1912 following a presidential address to Congress from President William Howard Taft in December of 1911 (Crawford, 2015). As of today, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation and represents more than 2 million businesses of varying sizes and regions. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the voice and representation of its members in Washington D.C. when laws and regulations regarding trade and international business must be discussed (Trevino., 2012). Therefore, the same principles apply to American Chambers of Commerce as affiliates of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. American Chambers of Commerce, or AmChams, are the same as chambers of commerce but they also deal with international trade. AmChams help to advocate and lobby for business ties and trade on both national and international grounds (Trevino., 2012). Similar to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, AmChams are the voice of the businesses in their respective region in Washington D.C.
Since AmCham Romania is an officially recognized American Chamber of Commerce, one of the main goals is to help promote trade and economic relations between the U.S. and Romania. The mission of the organization is to “stimulate commerce between the U.S. and Romania and improve economic relations between the countries while maintaining an open dialogue with central authorities” (AmCham Romania, n.d.). Therefore, the organization plays a lead role in helping grow and increase trade and investment ties between the U.S. and Romania. Due to this, international competitiveness is strengthened to increase global interdependence to keep ongoing investment ties (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2010).
Currently, AmCham Romania provides many different services to its members as to be able to achieve its goals of helping to promote good business practices as well as trade and investments in Romania and with the U.S. AmCham Romania provides different membership levels for different business sizes, such as patron for smaller businesses and corporate for larger businesses (AmCham Romania, n.d.). For these memberships, the companies must pay a membership fee but once they become a member, the company can access the provided benefits. These benefits include different resources and news about current economic events, publicity on the website and at different member events, access to member-only events that can provide networking opportunities, exposure opportunities, and many other beneficial resources (AmCham Romania, n.d.). The provided benefits that come with membership help to incite companies to not only join AmCham Romania but to also remain a member. Therefore, AmCham Romania wants to help to improve the Romanian economy and ties between the U.S. and Romania by aiding businesses in their practices and providing beneficial resources for them to aid in maintaining economic diplomacy and international trade and investments.