| POLSKA POLAND POLSKA POLAND POLSKA POLAND POLSKA POLAND POLSKA POLAND POLSKA | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
|
TABLE OF CONTENTS NEWS
INVESTMENTS IN POLAND
FROM THE REGIONS
ANALYSES AND REPORTS
FROM THE EDITOR Dear Readers, This week we inform that a promotion campaign of Poland’s economy and tourism is to begin in the CNN International television network and in the Internet. Promoting the country as a good investment destination stands also behind two seminars organised by PAIiIZ in New York and Saint Louis in the USA. Besides we write about the newest investments in the electronic, steel and IT sectors to be realised in special economic zones and in Warsaw. We also invite you to read an account of a conference organised in the PAIiIZ Press Centre which was chaired by the PAIiIZ president devoted and to the presentation of the Word Investment Report 2008 UNCTAD. Pleasant reading! PAIiIZ’s editorial team NEWS Poland to be promoted in CNN International On September 26th, a 12-week promotional campaign of Poland’s economy and tourism will be launched in the CNN International television network. Poland is to be presented as a modern and a dynamically developing country, a place attractive to tourists and a reliable economic partner as well as a perfect investment destination.
It is certainly worth emphasizing that the initiative results form an efficient co-operation of organizations dealing with Poland’s promotional matters. The project is an effect of a team work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, the Polish Tourist Organisation and the LOT Polish Airlines. The promotion is to be inaugurated on September 26th, 2008. By mid December two specially prepared 30-second long spots will have been broadcast 625 times. Additional internet adjusted spots will also be displayed on the CNN.com, CNN.com/International and CNNMoney.com websites at least 1 000 000 times. During the 12 week campaign promotional materials will also be presented on www.cnn.com/poland. Poland’s promotional campaign in the CNN network was thought to complement a series of programmes devoted to Poland; the country’s economy, politics tourism and culture prepared by the CNN and presented under a joint title ”Eye on Poland”, which are scheduled for broadcasting between October 6th-12th 2008. In the period when the CNN programmes will attract the viewership attention to Poland, the promotional spots are to reinforce potential interest in the country. Go to top...
PAIiIZ organises investment conferences in New York and Saint Louis The Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency in co-operation with the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, Polish economic organizations and special economic zones organizes conferences on investment possibilities in Poland.
“Doing Business with Poland” is a motto of the conference which is to take place in New York. The event organised thanks to a joint effort of PAIiIZ and the New York Consulate General in co-operation with the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce will be an opportunity for all interested in Poland to learn about the country’s current state of economy, about the conditions of running a business, the business environment and its institutions as well as about investment possibilities the country offers to prospective American investors. The conference will take place on October 10th at 10 a.m in the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in New York. Privatization plan for the years 2008-2011 The Ministry of Treasury works on a privatization plan for the years 2008-2011. Part of the plan consists in the publication of the list of companies that are to be transferred to private sector in the forthcoming years.
The privatization plan embraces companies from such important industries as financial or power industry, chemical and petroleum industry - where privatization is either to begin from scratch or will be continued. Privatisation is also planned to include the machine, metal, electronic, electro-technical, alcohol, food, wood and paper, furniture, clothing and clothing raw materials, transport and logistics industries as well as trading companies and service units, minority shareholding (the residues) or companies from the NFI Program. Privatization of the companies from the NFI program should have been finished by the end of the year 2009. Privatization of residues shall take place until mid 2009. There are cases where either due to the current court proceedings, settlements with creditors or investors’ obligations resulting from the privatization agreements, transformation processes may be prolonged until the year 2011. As of March 31st, 2008 the Minister of the Treasury exercises rights to stocks and shares in 1237 companies. Among these, 350 companies are being liquidated, declared bankrupt or stopped business activity. Out of the remaining 887 active companies, 363 (41%) are one-person companies of the Treasury. INVESTMENTS IN POLAND New Japanese investment in the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone Poland Tokai Okaya, a Japanese company manufacturing liquid crystal displays components opens a factory in Ostaszewo, within the Pomeranian SEZ.
The company has been operating in Poland since 2006. The company’s shareholders comprise of Okaya&Co. Ltd and Tokai Pressing seated in Japan and Okaya Europe GmbH seated in Germany. Poland Tokai Okaya forms part of the international Okaya group. Okaya & Co., Ltd was established in 1669 and it is one of the oldest Japanese companies and a member of the Les Henokians association of the oldest companies in the world. The Okaya factory will produce metal components (backlight chassis) used in liquid crystal displays’ production. The new investment initiated in Poland follows other project managed by Sharp Corporation, one of the world biggest clients of Okaya and Tokai Pressing. In Japan both Okaya and Tokai Pressing co-operate with numerous companies form the electronic sector e.g. Sharp, Sony, Hitachi, Omron, Ricoh and automotive industry like Toyota, Honda. Poland Tokai Okaya began production in October 2007. Physically the plant now comprises of two shop floors where frame components for liquid crystal displays have been produced. To date, investment costs incurred by the company reached 88 million PLN what includes construction of the two production premises and warehouses consisting of office space, technical backstage, delivery and loading zones all jointly accounting for over 14 thousand sq m. Besides the investor takes care of the construction of a car park, interior roads as well as many other elements of the indispensable infrastructure including gas, energy, water, telephone, and sanitary fittings. The majority of products manufactured by the company finds clients within the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone among producers of the LCD panels, among others, the Sharp Manufacturing Poland and the supplies are usually regulated by long-term agreements. Due to the constant operational development the employment capacity of the company has also been growing steadily and rose from almost 60 employed persons in September 2007 to reach over 300 employees a year later in September 2008. The company is interested in hiring mainly production workers and plans to offer intensive trainings regarding production processes, software handling training and incorporation into the company’s business philosophy procedures as well as language courses. With time and in accordance to the company’s pace of development additional training courses concerning technologies used in the production process will be offered to the staff. (Pomeranian SEZ) QAD to open a software development centre in Wrocław QAD is a software company supplying and developing companies’ software structure in the CEE region. In Wrocław the company’s Precision Software development centre has been under construction. Beside the Dublin-based centre, the Wrocław facility will be the second world’s place where the software is to be developed.
QAD systems are used in the pharmaceutical, chemical, electronic and food industries to mention only a few, and find application in efficient monitoring of the integrated transportation management systems. Undoubtedly it is the international logistics industry with companies like DHL, FedEx or UPS where the systems find the most advanced use. Ray Tomecki, QAD regional director for Central and Eastern Europe, told the PAIiIZ Newsletter that the destination choice for the investment had a lot to do with the development possibilities Poland offers regarding the company’s European and worldwide activities, with highly-qualified cadre and the accessibility to competent programmers. (QAD) ArcelorMittal again to invest in Poland On September 18th, the day of the 50th anniversary of the creation of Huta Warszawa (Warsaw Steelworks) ArcelorMittal Warszawa opened a new bar mill. The facility cost ranks among the most modern plants of the kind in Europe.
The new bar mill’s production capacity accounts for 650-700 thousand tons annually and is prepared for production of a variety of bars e.g. ribbed reinforcing bar, plain or square bars. The new facility will enable ArcelorMittal Warszawa to realize one of the company’s key goals i.e. effective supply of the dynamically developing Polish construction sector with a wide variety of steel components. Among the features that are most emphasized by the investor are the facility’s efficiency, work output and the new energy-economic production system applied in the mill. The mill was officially opened on the day of the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw steelworks construction in the presence of the former president Lech Wałęsa. Investor’s representatives stressed that thanks to the investment the Warsaw-based steelworks joins the group of the most modern steel companies in Europe. The opening ceremony was attended by over 300 persons. Beside the honorary guest, the former president Lech Wałęsa also the representatives of ArcelorMittal’s management board - Gonzalo Urquijo, Gerhard Renz and Bernd Webersinke as well as Jerzy Podsiadło, vice president of the ArcelorMittal Poland management board arrived. The opening gathered also representatives of the public administration, Jacek Kozłowski, the Mazowieckie region voivod; Zbigniew Dubiel, mayor of the Warsaw Bielany district as well as Romuald Talarek, the Polish Steel Association representative. Henryk Hulin, the Warsaw steelworks management board president said: “The investment does not only equal a long-term and safe provision of workplaces but is also bound to considerably improve the work conditions for the current staff. I would like to emphasize that we do have w great team in Warsaw, a team comprised of experienced specialists. It is in their hands where the success of the company lies.” (ArcelorMittal) MACROECONOMIC POLAND
Source: www.nbp.pl FROM THE REGIONS European Games Centre will be created in Cracow On September 18th, an agreement concerning co-operation in the frame of a European Games Centre cluster was signed in the Cracow Technology Park (KPT). The project involves round 20 companies of the Polish game market from Cracow, Warsaw, Bydgoszcz and Wrocław.
The opening was attended by delegates from the Jagiellonian University, the University of Science and Technology and the Nibris company i.e. the originators of the project and also by representatives of companies interested in establishing co-operation with the centre. The Cracow Technology Park was also visited by the region’s and city’s authorities: Jerzy Miller, the Małopolska voivod; Monika Piątkowska, director of the Strategy and City Development Department and Dariusz Kowalczyk, director of Informational Society Department in the Małopolska Marshal’s Office. The meeting was chaired by Sławomir Kopeć PhD, president of the Cracow Technology Park which will provide administration service to the cluster. The mission of the European Games Centre consists in supporting the video games sector development. Thanks to a co-operation net gathering entities interested in propping up the video games industry and comprised of enterprises, local authorities, universities and business environment entities, the sector stands a good chance of acquiring a key importance for the whole region’s economy. At the moment the cosignatories face a crucial task consisting in the creation of the Centre itself and in recruiting highly-qualified cadre for the companies operating in the video game sector. (Cracow Technology Park) ANALYSES AND REPORTS World Investment Report 2008 UNCTAD According to the World Investment Report 2008 UNCTAD, FDI inflow to Poland continuous on high level. Poland still remains the leader in the EU newcomer countries.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) produced a Word Investment Report analysing world trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) flows, which was presented on September 24th in the Press Centre of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency in Warsaw. Professor Zbigniew Zimny, UNCTAD representative in Poland, observed and emphasised record worldwide FDI flows in 2007. The tendency results from high value transactions being concluded in developed countries and at the same time from a considerable number of direct investments being realised on developing markets. Research included in the UNCTAD report suggests that international corporations tend to be increasingly prone to investing in the countries forming the so called BRIC group (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and in the USA. Poland ranked high on the 12th position among the prospective investment destinations declared by the surveyed. After the country had entered the UE, FDI inflow to Poland had considerably risen and still continues on high level, reaching 17.6 billion USD in 2007. Professor Zbigniew Zimny emphasised that among the projects realised in Poland are highly technologically advanced initiatives like R&D centres which exert an ever increasing influence on the Poland’s economy development. In comparison to other countries of the CEE region, Poland continues to acquire the greatest number of foreign investors. Yet according to Prosfessor Zimny, Poland would be capable of attracting even a greater number of investors if the whole potential of the country was properly used. Economic reforms and infrastructure investments are seen as the best way of improving the country’s investment attractiveness. Undoubtedly, it is the big domestic market and perfect location in Europe offering development possibilities and enabling companies to expand freely both into the Eastern markets as well as into the UE market that constitutes the biggest investment advantage of the country. Paweł Wojciechowski PhD, President of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, who together with professor Zimny chaired the meeting, emphasised the three most attractive elements drawing investors to Poland: the young and highly-qualified cadre, still relatively low labour costs and steady basis for economic growth.
Despite the fact that the value of FDI inflow to Poland in 2008 may be lower than in the previous years, PAIiIZ president Mr Wojciechowski is of the opinion that the number of gfreenfield projects realised in Poland and in majority managed by the Agency is bound to remain at a level similar to the current standards. This year’s investment value in Poland in expected to reach 10-12 billion EUR, the major parts derived form the automotive and electronic industries as well as form the service sector. Similarly, according to professor Zimny, the currently decreasing value of the global FDI flow is of a rather transitory nature and should not influence substantially the average FDI flow tendency which is to continue to be on the increase. At the conference the PAIiIZ President presented also the Agency’s performance report for the period between September 2007 and September this year which shows that Poland’s highly assessed attractiveness and the Agency’s efficiency in foreign investors acquisition do find reflection in the report’s data. Only this year the Agency finalized 46 projects, jointly worth 1.15 billion EUR which are to result in 11 thousand new workplaces. (PAIiIZ).  Editorial office: Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, 00-585 Warsaw, Bagatela Street 12 Economic Promotion Department, tel: (+48 22) 334 98 15, fax: (+48 22) 334 99 98, e-mail: redakcja@paiz.gov.pl | |||||||||||||
|
