Abstract. The term "bioeconomy" is a new concept mainly used after 2000, when it was introduced into literature and policy by Christian Patermann. The purpose of the paper is to present the level of development of the bioeconomy in Romania considering the opportunities offered by the concept and the challenges that may arise during the process, in the current difficult international context, such as climate change, Covid-19. pandemic, war in Ukraine, etc. The official documents of the EC and other European institutions with attributions in the field, national documents from Romania, but also results and documents of the BIOEAST Initiative and the BIOEASTsUP Project were used. To achieve the proposed objectives, a review of the specialized literature, a text analysis of the studies and documents in this field were carried out. The study highlights the main characteristics, opportunities, and challenges of the country, in a regional and EU context. The results of the analysis show the benefits of changes in national strategies. There are important factors that can be decisive to solving all the problems we face today. Therefore, the opportunity to develop a bioeconomy strategy in accordance with EU regulations should not be lost, so that it is approved and operational during the 2021-2027 programming period, and EU funds for this purpose can be accessed. The National Bioeconomy Strategy for Romania is in the first stage of development.