As major business networks take shape nearby, we keep looking the other way

While major business networks are being built around the eastern Mediterranean, the article argues that Romania is looking in the other direction. It says the country is ignoring opportunities emerging close to the transport route linking the Black Sea with the eastern Mediterranean.

The author refers to openings announced by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and to plans for coordinated investment across several sectors. Those plans could create new markets and attractive offers for European industries struggling to survive, the article says.

The piece warns that diplomatic and foreign-trade choices driven mainly by ideology risk overlooking the region's changing power map. It argues that intelligence services have repeatedly informed political leaders about the importance of the area, including the contacts, contracts and commercial arrangements reshaping regional influence and affecting the global balance.

The article presents smaller countries as needing to build external channels, seek alliances and position themselves carefully in an economic struggle for survival, while moving beyond the ideological passions of the past. It says Romania might have anticipated the shift and prepared possible scenarios with a different diplomacy and a different foreign minister.

The article then points to China's involvement in Egypt. After the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation conference, Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled to Egypt and, alongside President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, launched the third phase of the Egyptian-Chinese TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone.

The zone already contains 200 companies, has reached $4.7 billion in investment and records more than $7.3 billion in sales. Products made there benefit from Egypt's free-trade agreements with countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The article also describes a gradual shift toward cross-border payments in renminbi, as regional countries seek to simplify capital flows and move away from dollar-based mechanisms. Electric vehicle production is expanding, and Egypt's Mansour Group and China's Tianneng Battery Group have signed a memorandum.