THE EXTERNAL TRADE CONCENTRATION AND SPECIALISATION INDEX OF ROMANIA INBETWEEN 2000-2016

The empirical studies carried out on Romania's foreign trade performance aimed at establishing, on the one hand, the products with which Romania is competitive in the foreign markets and which are the external markets that the Romanian products are most competitive, so that the responsible factors the Romanian foreign trade can adopt the strategy of correct and scientifically based promotion at a macroeconomic level and on the other hand to indicate to the Romanian economic agents the directions they must orientate or reorient their exports in order to maximize the derived positive effects from the EU accession, taking advantage of the free trade agreements that we have also taken as partners from the moment of Romania's accession to the EU, agreements that create us access in advantageous conditions, of high competitiveness, on foreign markets with which Romania did not agree before the EU accession, and at the same time to encourage the export activity of the Romanian economic agents that produce products identified in the researches carried out in this study, as having a high competitive potential for export on the markets concerned. In this context, we were concerned with the identification of innovative methods and strategies for establishing and capitalizing on the competitive advantages of Romanian companies with foreign trade activity as a result of our country's accession to the European Union, in order to solve the complex economic problems generated by the major trade deficit Romania, as well as the creation of mechanisms for implementing the strategies and methods resulting from the research conducted to reduce this deficit and to maximize the positive effects of Romania's accession to the EU. As it is well known, export competitiveness is a fertile ground for analyzing entrepreneurial potential and how it manifests itself, with entrepreneurial culture representing, together with other specialized factors of production, an important source of competitive advantage and one of the determinants of national competitive advantages. The analysis of the exchange ratio and coverage and specialization of the foreign trade for the whole period 1990-2016 was also carried out in order to highlight the evolution of Romania's foreign trade and the strategic role played by the European Union in this evolution. The present study presents only the analyses and their results for the period 2000-2016, considered eloquent for the European economic integration of Romania, taking into account the fact that in February 2000 the negotiations for the accession of our country to the EU started.