France: Record Deficit in Foreign Trade
In 2008, gross domestic product in France will probably grow by only 1 percent in real terms, and the forecast for 2009 does not paint a rosier picture. Problems in the national budget will get worse and, accordingly, it will become more difficult to reduce the deficit to zero by 2012, as agreed with Brussels. In the first six months of 2008, the balance of trade recorded a deficit of 24 billion euros. At the same time, French investors’ appetite for foreign investments is growing. Read more
Europe needs to know China better
“The Hamburg summit: China meets Europe” is running until tonight in Hamburg. Former chancellor Helmut Schmidt said on the first day of the international economic conference: “A lack of knowledge regarding China’s historical achievements is one reason for the lack of respect paid by the West to China.” European readers of newspapers, TV watchers and Internet bloggers were able to understand and assess the huge progress made by China during the past thirty years only if they knew about Chinese history. Schmidt called on both sides, not to look down upon each other, but instead to learn from each other: “There were times, when the Chinese were ahead of the Europeans, and there were times, when the Europeans had an advance – evidently, the intelligence quotient seems to be equally spread on both parts of the earth.” Read more
Kienbaum’s Search in Bulgaria and Romania
Kienbaum, a personnel consultancy, has now extended its cross-border executive search to Romania and Bulgaria, supporting the recruitment of specialists and executives. Kienbaum will also offer comprehensive consulting services in the fields of Human Resource Management and compensation, according to today’s announcement. Dr. Paul Milata, born in Romania, is in charge of the business in Romania and Bulgaria. Kienbaum points out that, in addition to his several years of experience in consulting, Milata also possesses a profound knowledge of East European markets.
