Bucharest, July 17, 2025 – RBJ – The Romanian Embassy in the US announced on Thursday that Arizona becomes the first US state to open an economic office in Romania. It is a strong signal of confidence in the economic potential of Romania and our region.
“Arizona becomes the first US state to open an economic office in Romania. The state legislature makes the first allocation of funds for the Bucharest office For the first time in the history of bilateral relations, an American state opens an economic office in Romania. In the recently adopted budget for fiscal year 2026 (October 2025 – September 2026), the state of Arizona allocated USD 125,000 for the opening of the Bucharest office — an initiative that recognizes Romania’s role as a regional hub for investments and strengthens the economic partnership with the United States,” the Romanian Embassy in the US reports.
The regional trade office in Romania will also cover Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans.
“The decision of the state of Arizona to open a commercial office in our country is a strong signal of confidence in the economic potential of Romania and our region. I am convinced that this initiative will strengthen trade exchanges, stimulate innovation and bring our business communities even closer, contributing to the development of a sustainable economic relationship between Romania and the United States,” said Andrei Muraru, the Romanian Ambassador to the United States.
The economic representations of the state of Arizona have duties such as: providing commercial and export assistance to companies based in Arizona; conducting market research; identifying sales partners / distributors / end buyers / end users; facilitating connections between companies, as well as between companies and authorities; assisting economic delegations from Arizona at trade fairs / exhibitions, etc., the Embassy also announced.
“The Romanian Embassy in the United States thanks Mr. Ben Toma for the support he provided to this project during his term as Speaker of the House of Representatives in the state of Arizona, as well as to all Romanian and American officials – from the Government, Parliament – and Romanian businessmen who contributed to transforming this idea into reality”, specifies the Romanian Embassy in the US:
The project of opening a commercial office in Romania was built through a constant dialogue between the Romanian Embassy in Washington with the institutions of the state of Arizona, supported by official visits and support from the business community during the period 2023-2024: constant approaches and visits of Ambassador Andrei Muraru together with other representatives of the Romanian Embassy in the United States in the state of Arizona; approaches and visits of Romanian parliamentarians, the visit of the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, the visit of the Mayor of Sector 6 of Bucharest, Ciprian Ciucu, in Phoenix, Arizona; visits of delegations of the Arizona House of Representatives to Romania, led by Speaker Ben Toma and Tim Cook, Chairman of the Committee on International Trade; visit of the AmCham delegation to Arizona.
In addition, in February 2023, the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, Ben Toma, established the Committee on International Trade with the aim of analyzing opportunities for Arizona to expand its international presence, increase trade and foreign direct investment, and strengthen Arizona’s ties with international partners.
In April 2023, the Committee adopted the International Trade Plan, which provided for the establishment of 4 regional trade offices, including Romania.
Arizona currently has trade offices in Mexico (Mexico City, Chihuahua, Guanajuato), Israel (Tel Aviv), Germany (Frankfurt), the Republic of Korea (Seoul) and Taipei, the Embassy of Romania in the USA notes.
