THE EVOLUTION OF ECONOMIC RELATIONS BETWEEN ROMANIA AND THE SUB-SAHARAN STATES BEFORE DECEMBER 1989 AND IN THE FIRST TWO DECADES OF TRANSITION

Abstract

The decolonization of sub-Saharan Africa was an opportunity intelligently speculated by the communist regime in Bucharest. Unlike the other communist states, regimented to the ideological current imposed by Moscow, Romania promoted an independent foreign policy and sought to establish economic relations with all developing states, regardless of their political orientation. But the events of December 1989 radically changed Romania’s policy towards sub-Saharan states. This article proposes an analysis of the way in which the economic relations between Romania and the sub-Saharan states evolved before the events of December 1989 and in the first two decades of the transition to a market economy.