Politico-Economic Presence of the Kingdom of Serbia (Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes/Kingdom of Yugoslavia) on Romanian Territory: Navigation and Consular Representation (1903–1932)

Beginning in the 1860s, both the Kingdom of Serbia (Yugoslavia) and Romania gained notoriety as important regional factors in the South-Eastern European struggle for power. The beginning of the 20th century marks the strategic emergence of common interests between the two states and significant growth of the trading volume between the two. In this context, the heightening presence of Belgrade on Romanian territory was noticed, both politically, highlighted by consular representation, and economically, defined through the Danubian navigation-commerce binomial relation. In the first three decades of the 20th century, the Yugoslav Kingdom represented an important factor in Danubian navigation and an active presence in Romanian ports. The main vector in promoting their economic interests in the region was the Serbian Navigation Company, which became the Serbian Navigation Service, and subsequently, the Yugoslav Navigation Service. This service operated in the majority of Romanian ports and competed successfully against a multitude of significant, long-standing companies. The dynamization of commercial trade on the Danube presupposed the operationalization of a consular network in Belgrade that included the port of Braila and the capital city, Bucharest. Between 1906 and 1932 the presence of 14 official Serbian (Yugoslav) consuls was recorded in Romania, of which 5 were based in Braila and 9 in Bucharest. In relation to the regional scale of the Serbian (Yugoslav) Kingdom in the aforementioned time period, Belgrade had a consistent politico-economic presence in Romania, with the interstate relations reaching significant heights that have temporarily contributed to the consolidation of regional stability.