Good article Neil. Its true that Romanians do seem to be more up and doing than some other countries i´ve travelled to. Theres no limit to how fast the place can grow, cos people are hard workers and have work ethic and good educational background. Take Spain for instance, I love the people and the country but the work ethic doesn´t seem to be here and can be awkward to do business efficiently in this country at times. Its no criticism to spain but this thursday is a holiday here so that means little will get done this week at all and productivity is so low! Not saying that Spaniards aren´t bright people but the warm weather and lifestyle here isn´t geared much to working hard and not many people in spain speak good english and even if they do they may not have confidence to use the english they know. I doubt we could say the same for Romania, as u have just pointed out. By the way, do PS plan to source anymore off-plan deals in bucharest? Its unusual that we haven´t seen any deals from bucharest for a while.. Does it have something to do with the fact that entry price is higher than people expect or desire or thats its simply impossible to source deals? For me a 90,000€ apartment in bucharest is a good investment but i guess prices have gone up a bit. Best regards Liam

Hi Alan Good points - it is hard to say why the eduction level in Romania is high (relative to GDP) and the key point is that 'it is'! In a way, I'm making comparisons to Spain. One of the reasons salaries are low in Spain (ave salary of 1,700 Euros per month vs 3,600 in UK) is because of the massive expansion in qualified people in the 25 to 35 year age group. This was partly driven by relatively high education standards during Franco's time - but also a boom in demand for education as people saw salvation and escape in studying. The key is that it has left Spain with a legacy - and will do the same in Romania. Cheers Neil ps. I agree that Spanish productivity is low - but so was the UK's productivity growth in the 90's. This appears to be how countries develop. I believe that you will see rapid increases in productivity in Spain in the coming years. pps. The Spanish are the hardest workers of wester Europe. 9am to 7pm days are typical for most people - and the Siesta time is rapidly becoming a sandwich at the desk! Sad, but true!

HI Neil and others Let's hope the Upload button works this time or I am writing this for nothing. When I started recruiting Romanian social workers the first group of five were interviewed by Suffolk in December 2002. All got jobs...and Suffolk were so impressed that by February the next year they spend three days in Bucharest interviewing. Later on that year in September 2003 I brought nine social workers over to the UK for interviews. I had three sets of interviews that week and all got jobs by the end of it including Ana. Ana is a Cluj graduate and at that time she had one year's post qualification experience. She was a bit of a monkey but I have the gift of spotting talent. Earlier this year she got promoted by Lincolnshire to a senior Team manager post with a nice salary in excess of 40 thousand pounds. Not bad for a 28 year old. The next example of Romanian talent is Elena pictured in the Moroccasn desert last Easter. Elena had graduated in 2003 and just could not get a job in Romania. She spent 9 months as an au pair in Belgium and contacted me because she wanted to come to the UK as an au pair. I asked her how she saw her future in 3 year's time to which she replied that her dream was to work as a social worker. I promised to make her dream come true and hired her as my PA. She moved from Iasi to Cluj and after 6 weeks cheekily asked me if she could have a little holiday in the UK. I could not refuse and when she came to the UK I happened to have two interview opportunities. I told the relevant Managers that I do not employ monkeys and that Elena was worthwhile interviewing. They reluctantly followed my advice and both Managers offered Elena a job necause they too recognised that she was talented. She now does a lot of court work for Thurrock; flies to Marrakech every six weeks or so where she has a Moroccan boyfriend. The last pic is Luciana a social worker from Bucharest.Luciana is a very good friend and earler this year she brought several mebers of her family to the UK for a visit. I met her Aunt who is from Cluj and works as an electrical supervisor on the Iulius Mall project here in Cluj and her cousin, Sorin, is regarded as the best geological engineer here in Cluj. So I hope these three stories - there are many more - back up your opinion that Romanians are highly educated and motivated to succeed! Regards Charles

HI Neil and others Let's hope the Upload button works this time or I am writing this for nothing. When I started recruiting Romanian social workers the first group of five were interviewed by Suffolk in December 2002. All got jobs...and Suffolk were so impressed that by February the next year they spend three days in Bucharest interviewing. Later on that year in September 2003 I brought nine social workers over to the UK for interviews. I had three sets of interviews that week and all got jobs by the end of it including Ana. Ana is a Cluj graduate and at that time she had one year's post qualification experience. She was a bit of a monkey but I have the gift of spotting talent. Earlier this year she got promoted by Lincolnshire to a senior Team manager post with a nice salary in excess of 40 thousand pounds. Not bad for a 28 year old. The next example of Romanian talent is Elena pictured in the Moroccasn desert last Easter. Elena had graduated in 2003 and just could not get a job in Romania. She spent 9 months as an au pair in Belgium and contacted me because she wanted to come to the UK as an au pair. I asked her how she saw her future in 3 year's time to which she replied that her dream was to work as a social worker. I promised to make her dream come true and hired her as my PA. She moved from Iasi to Cluj and after 6 weeks cheekily asked me if she could have a little holiday in the UK. I could not refuse and when she came to the UK I happened to have two interview opportunities. I told the relevant Managers that I do not employ monkeys and that Elena was worthwhile interviewing. They reluctantly followed my advice and both Managers offered Elena a job necause they too recognised that she was talented. She now does a lot of court work for Thurrock; flies to Marrakech every six weeks or so where she has a Moroccan boyfriend. The last pic is Luciana a social worker from Bucharest.Luciana is a very good friend and earler this year she brought several mebers of her family to the UK for a visit. I met her Aunt who is from Cluj and works as an electrical supervisor on the Iulius Mall project here in Cluj and her cousin, Sorin, is regarded as the best geological engineer here in Cluj. So I hope these three stories - there are many more - back up your opinion that Romanians are highly educated and motivated to succeed! Regards Charles

Hi Charles - that means the Cluj ladies team is like Arsenal - top of the league! This matters greatly, as I am both a proud father of two girls and an Arsenal fan. Currently, they are playing basketabll - but there is always hope! Cheers Neil