Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates inaugurates Bucharest Centre (Feb 1, 2007)

Feb 1, 2007 (Romania Report & AP)

BUCHAREST, Romania – On Thursday, Bill Gates inaugurated a Microsoft technical support global centre in Bucharest, showing confidence that Romania's recent EU accession would boost foreign investment and the country's IT industry, AP reports. President Traian Basescu awarded Mr. Gates the ‘Star of Romania’ (Commander Rank), the country's highest distinction.

"This center is very important for us. It will help our customers in Europe resolve complex problems," Gates said. "We are expecting to continue to invest in Romania. ... We collaborated well with the government and our partners."

Gates also launched the new Vista operating system, Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 in Romania, saying that many Romanian specialists, including those working for a local company acquired by Microsoft, had worked to develop them. Microsoft acquired GeCAD, an antivirus and mail server software maker, in 2003 for an undisclosed amount.

The support center in Bucharest is expected to employ up to 600 local specialists and is to provide assistance to customers in Europe, particularly in France and Germany.

President Traian Basescu said that while the country has changed its laws in recent years to fight computer piracy, many Romanians were introduced to Microsoft and computers in the early 1990s by using pirated software as they had no access to the original software.

President Basescu praised Gates for his support of charities worldwide, saying he hoped Romanian companies would follow his example and become more socially responsible.

"We see charitable acts here, too, but they are mostly based on mercy" and not on the idea of returning part of the wealth to help society, Basescu said.

Mr. Basescu also said he was impressed by the Microsoft boss: “There are three things that came to my mind when meeting Bill Gates and noticing his daily schedule. Bill Gates is a symbol for educational values and progress, a symbol for hard work and law, a symbol for social responsibility.”

PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu saluted the opening of the Microsoft support center, saying it would boost the local IT sector and help Romania move faster into the computer age.

Tariceanu said that half of the business IT figure of about €1 billion (US$1.2 billion) in Romania represents exports. "I think this is the future for Romania's economy and less the classical industrial activities," he said.


Romania Report, according to AP