Romania intends to buy the Giurgiulesti Free International Port to aid Ukraine’s recovery effort after the war ends. The Romanian government said back in 2023 that it sees itself as an “important hub” in this process and that it will make logistical preparations to this end. However, there are competitors that are also interested in investing in the port located in the south of Moldova.
The acquisition eyed by Romania is seen as a strategic move, which could boost Romania’s role in the region’s economic growth and reconstruction efforts.
The authorities in Bucharest have often expressed their desire to contribute to the post-conflict reconstruction of Ukraine, due to the shared border and the intensification of bilateral relations in recent years. It has been 10 months since Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu publicly announced that his country wants to buy this port.
Competition from Bulgaria
Back in October 2023, the sole legal owner of the Giurgiulesti Free International Port, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), said that it was not negotiating exclusively with anyone to sell its stake. And indeed, there are several prospective buyers.
Among those interested are two Bulgarian businessmen, Kiril and Georgi Domuschiev, who own the MBF Port Burgas, which was privatized in 2008. This is stated in the memorandum of the Romanian Government, referred to by the Romanian publication profit.ro and Free Europe’s Moldovan service.
The company owned by the Domuschiev brothers operates two terminals in the Port of Burgas in southern Bulgaria, and is part of Navibulgar, the country’s largest shipping company.
In addition, the two brothers own Ludogorets Razgrad, Bulgaria’s most successful football club in recent decades.
The two billionaires founded the Advance Properties conglomerate in 2003, with interests in pharmaceuticals, real estate, shipping and port operations, according to information on the presentation website.
Among the conglomerate’s partners is the Clinton Global Initiative, a non-profit organization founded in 2005 by former US President Bill Clinton.
Strategic positioning
Strategically located at the confluence of the Prut River and the Danube, the port is Moldova’s only indirect outlet to the Black Sea.
Giurgiulești is a village in Cahul district, in the south of Moldova, on the left bank of the Prut river, opposite the Romanian city of Galați, another important port on the Danube.
In the first two years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ports of Reni in Ukraine, Giurgiulești in Moldova, and Galați and Constanța in Romania helped Kyiv export its grain to foreign markets. This strategic alliance of ports played a crucial role in supporting Ukraine’s economy during the Russian blockade of grain exports.
The Free International Port is currently managed by Danube Logistics SRL, a company owned by the EBRD. It was leased in 2004 for a period of 99 years, as the land remained state property.
In 2008, the Moldovan Government requested the restitution of a patch of land, where it built a passenger terminal administered by the state-run Ungheni River Port.
In 2023, Minister of Infrastructure Andrei Spînu declared that the Government intended to rebuild and modernize the state port in 5 years.