Successful 2016 and promising 2017

Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency will not only change its name to Polish Agency for Investment and Trade, but it also will significantly expand the scope of its activities. “We are going to countries that are stabilizing” - said president Pisula.  PAIiIZ, soon acting as PAIH, is developing foreign network of trade offices all over the world, the target is to create approximately 70 of such offices. “The first decision on liquidation of Trade and Investment Promotion Section in Shanghai was already made. The foreign trade office (ZBH) of the agency are already operating”, president commented. Other ZBH in Singapore, San Francisco, Tehran, Nairobi, and Ho Chi Minh City are also running. “In the first half of 2017 we want to establish ZBH in Budapest, Frankfurt, Dubai and Mexico”, said president Pisula.

PAIiIZ, soon PAIH, is developing foreign network “The first decision on liquidation of Trade and Investment Promotion Section in Shanghai was already made”, president Pisula commented (photo PAIiIZ)

The meeting served also for presenting the results in terms of attracting and service of investment projects by PAIiIZ.  “Last year, we recorded the highest investment value of the Agency portfolio of completed FDI projects that reached 1.74 bn. Thanks to these investments, more than 16,000 people will find employment, it is really great result”, said vice-president Krzysztof Senger.  As he mentioned, the investment climate in Poland not only maintained on high level but even has improved. ”Poland is assosiated with stability.It is a good partner for foreign investments”, Senger added. 

“We ended 2016 with 64 positive investment decisions. The largest group of investors in the portfolio of the Agency came from the US. American investors are PAIiIZ main customers, bringing a significant number of projects. They are also very important employers”, said director of the Foreign Investment Department PAIiIZ, Iwona Chojnowska-Haponik during the meeting. “Last year, US companies have declared the creation of 5,000 jobs”, she added.

On the second place in terms of the number of investments, there are companies with French capital. The French have invested more than EUR 105m and declared the creation of nearly 1,500 jobs. The next are German companies with the total value of investment reaching EUR 613.5m and declared employment of 2,538 people.

In terms of the total value of investments, the Germans invested in our country the most. “We have become the main cluster, the hub of the automotive industry in Europe”, said Krzysztof Senger.

Most of the projects with the support of PAIiIZ were completed in the BSS sector (23 investments with a total value of EUR 26.6m, which will create 7,051 jobs), automotive (12 projects, EUR 915.5m; 4,036 jobs) and the R&D sector (12 projects, EUR 32.5 m, 1,411 jobs).

Currently, the Agency runs 198 investment projects with a total value of 4.3 EUR bn with the target employment of 51,000 people. Most of the projects that the Agency supports are from the United States. The total value of 61 US investment projects is EUR 965.1 m. Due to them all, even 16,000 people will be able to find employment. On the following places there are Germany (22 projects worth EUR 609.6m in total and the planned employment of 7,727 people). The next are investors from Japan (14 investments).

The top five also consists of  the United Kingdom (10 projects) and South Korea (8 projects). “Once again Korea comes back to us thanks to a great boom in the automotive industry”, director Chojnowska commented.

In terms of sectors, the BSS dominates. There are 80 BSS projects in PAIiIZ pipeline  worth EUR 155.77m in total  (20,586 new jobs planned), the automotive sector  is represented by 34 projects, worth EUR 916.67m (11,183 new jobs planned) while  R&D sector is providing 15 projects with PAIiIZ suport worth EUR 57.09m in total (2,143 new jobs planned) . The Agency also helps to develop projects from food sector and aviation. (PAIiIZ)