Chinese telecom equipment producer Huawei plans to increase the value of investments in Romania and to expand its local team to 1,000 employees by 2018, 70 percent of them being Romanians, the company’s management said at the end of the meeting with Romanian Deputy Prime Minister Liviu Dragnea, reports Ziarul Financiar.

The company currently has 800 employees in Romania.

In 2012, Huawei Romania announced that it invested EUR 6 million in opening a global support center in Romania, the amount being planned to increase to EUR 200 million by 2015.

According to representatives of the local subsidiary, quoted by Ziarul Financiar, the Chinese company will invest another EUR 100 million in Romania by 2018, including taxes and labor costs.

Huawei has been active on the Romanian market since 2003.

Romanian Deputy Prime Minister Dragnea is currently on an official visit to China until March 26. At the end of his visit to another Chinese company - ZTE, the Romanian official received a smartphone as a gift. Upon receiving the gift, Dragnea said he intended to replace his current mobile device with the new smartphone from ZTE, should he be happy with the new equipment.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Huawei.com)