future, page-24

Just as an aside, last year my wife and I, (she is Romanian), went to the City Mall in Bucharest, more by accident than by design, and I must say I was amazed by the quality of the building and the merchandise available, the various top brand fashion names and commensurate prices.

Having visited Romania many times in the last 10 years and having witnessed a country recovering from the mindless economic morass of communism under Ceacescu each time I noted improvements in the general appearance of the community economy, however I have to say that I would be surprised to think that an average Romanian would even consider putting a foot inside the City Mall for other than curiosity purposes. Having said that when I first went there, the place was full of 30 year old Dacias (their equivalent of the Trabi of East Germany, Ceacescu at least paid licence fees to Renault and got good designs and working plans for them.) Nowadays the place teems with Skodas,Toyotas,BMWs, Audis, Porsches etc I guess indicative of the new economy.

(Mind you you don't have to go terribly far from bucharest before you start to see the country folk and Gypsies travelling in their horsedrawn wagons! Quite a novelty to see on the roads I can tell you!)

The City Mall is a magnificant structure on the periphery of Bucharest and I feel bodes well for the future of both Romania and AEZ