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TABLE OF CONTENTS NEWS
INVESTMENTS IN POLAND
FROM THE REGIONS
ANALYSES AND REPORTS
FROM THE EDITOR In today’s newsletter there’s some key information regarding the giants of the automotive sector: Ford will build their new Ford Ka model in Tychy; Hoerbriger – a manufacturer of auto-components has chosen Bolesławiec for a 47 million PLN investment and of BMW, who are building a warehouse and logistics centre in Słubice. Also there are two conference invitations, an article on the IT industry in Łódź – with their victory in a tender offered by Airbus and as a sweetener – an answer to the question: what do the Danes praise Polish workers for? Pleasant reading! PAIiIZ’s editorial team NEWS BPCC 5th Annual Conference: “LEADERSHIP - VISION - BUSINESS” The conference, organized by the British Polish Chamber of Commerce, will take place on the 21st - 22nd April, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Warsaw.
The conference will also focus on the exchange of best practice, and how to change management behaviour and corporate culture to suit the challenging HR situation today and in the future. The second day of the conference will deal with issues centering around how to start up a business in Poland. Participants will gain know how on how to find finance in order to develop a business and how to optimalise development of the Polish economy. For more information and to download an application form please see: 
AutoEvent - the largest motor industry conference of 2008 The IV edition of the Automotive Industry’s Conference AutoEvent will take place over 18-20th June this year. This is the largest event held by the motor industry sector in Poland and has come under the patronage of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ).
During the conference discussions will be held on matters relating to the corporations’ purchasing strategies, the lowering of costs, the policies regarding management of human resources, the improvements to manufacturing systems and on logistics. All the themes will be separated into topical groups. On the conference’s second day, apart from being able to take part in the discussions, there will be opportunities to talk to representatives of the purchasing departments of the Ford, PSA and Volkswagen corporations. This will enable all the interested parties to discover what the requirements of the major corporations participating are, additionally - it will enable businessmen to present their own firms as potential suppliers. During the third day of the event, the guests will have the opportunity to visit the largest automotive plant in Wielkopolska - VW-Poznań and to see the manufacturing and logistical processes employed in the works. Further information: www.autoevent.pl As much as a 3 billion PLN surplus could remain in the treasury purse at the end of I quarter of the year Such a good result indicates that over the whole year, the budgetary deficit could be lower than estimated.
Ms Elżbieta Suchocka-Roguska, the deputy finance minister, at an interview with the Reuters Agency said that after I Q of this year, the budgetary income could exceed expenditure by 2.5-3 billion PLN. The exact figure will be known in mid April. The deputy minister’s estimates came as a surprise to the analysts. - These figures are better than the forecasts. Even a slight deficit was expected - said Mr Remigiusz Grudzień, a PKO BP economist stated. This is crucial information for the financial markets, as the deficit on an annual scale could turn out to be lower than the 27 billion PLN forecasted. According to Mr Ryszard Petru, the BPH chief economist, a lower deficit will help Poland to fulfil the European Commission’s requirements. This in turn could influence the opinion’s at the ratings agencies and raise the assessment of creditworthiness for the Polish debt - which would then lead to positive decisions from foreign investors buying Polish obligations. As “Rzeczpospolita” wrote, the budget has seldom achieved an excess of income over expenditure over the first three months of the year. It’s possible that the source of these good results is the high GDP growth and firms’ profits, or the earlier settlement of their income tax bills. (Rz) INVESTMENTS IN POLAND Ford to invest 94 million EUR Ford-Werke GmbH, a German subsidiary of the American Corporation, intends to begin production of the new Ford Ka model in Poland. According to the company’s estimates around 1,000 workers will be directly employed by the company.
It’s possible that by the IV Q of this year the replacement for the Ford Ka, which has hitherto been built on the production lines of Valencia, will be built in the redeveloped (by Ford) Fiat factory at Tychy. The company will invest 94 million EUR to produce their new city car. Mr Wolfgang Schneider, vice-president of Ford of Europe, said that the decision to invest in Poland was taken for strategic reasons; the country has at its disposal not only well prepared personnel and an excellent location at the heart of Europe, but could also become a significant market for the cars that will be built at Tychy. Ford are to sign agreements with over 25 Polish suppliers, which according to the firm’s estimates will generate an annual turnover in the region of 198 million EUR. The automotive giant anticipates that 80% of the elements needed to build the cars will be supplied by Polish sub-contractors. The project will also lead to the transfer of technology to the Polish motor industry sector; the applied technology will embrace the most up to date technology and innovative solutions available, with particular attention to the sphere of environmental protection. The value of the investment grant recommended by the Ministry of the Economy could be in the region of 5 million EUR (19.5 million PLN); this aid must be approved by the European Commission. Support will come from budgetary sources at the disposal of the Ministry of the Economy and the specific aspects of the contract will be revealed shortly. The project has been dealt with since midway through 2006 by the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (MG/PAIiIZ). HOERBRIGER Automotive, the Bolesławiec sub-zone’s first investor A manufacturer from the automotive sector has invested 47 million PLN in a car parts factory, which is to be built in the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone (WSEZ).
A plant to produce systems to guarantee ride comfort and transmission components and systems for private cars, lorries and off-road vehicles, will be built on a 7 ha plot, in Bolesławiec. At least 47.2 million PLN of capital will be invested in the plant and at the Bolesławiec plant’s two production halls work will be found for 340 new workers.
The company was granted permission to begin commercial activities in the Bolesławiec sub-zone in March of this year; work on construction begins in April and the investment’s completion is expected by the end of 2012. Hoerbriger Automotive is the first investor to locate a factory at the Bolesławiec Sub-Zone, of the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone - “Invest-Park”. The sub-zone is part of the Bolesławiec Economic Activity Zone, which forms a separate area of 110 ha and is designated for investment purposes. This site is located directly adjacent to the “Bolesławiec” and “Krzyżowa” motorway junctions and has access to the railway network and the III Trans-European transport corridor. In connection with preparations of the site, the Bolesławiec Urban Gmina (local authority) has carried out much work connected to providing utilities within the Zone, i.e. providing water, sewers, electricity and internal roads. The Hoerbriger Corporation has an established position worldwide among the manufacturers of parts for compressors and in the field of automatic transmissions for all types of vehicles. It runs over 100 production plants and agencies in over 40 countries across the world - e.g. the USA, Japan, India, China and Peru. In 2007 it reached a turnover of 891 million EUR. It employs 5,800 workers. (WSEZ/UM Bolesławiec) BMW will build a logistics and warehousing centre in the lubuskie voivodship Work has begun on the construction of a 15,200m2 warehouse at Słubice on the German border. The firm will store replacement parts and accessories for the needs of Polish and German BMW companies.
The centre will be built in the Kostrzyn-Słubice Special Economic Zone, on a 3.5 ha plot. The project and the essential documentation have already been prepared, whilst work on the foundations has already begun. Construction is expected to be finished by May of this year. - The IIG (Immo Industry Group) engineers have prepared a project fulfilling BMW’s individual logistics solutions, which allows for the possibility of redeveloping the warehousing space by an additional 5.9 thousand square meters - Mr Marek Foryński, from the Immo Industry Group, the development firm supervising the project stated. The building’s plan, apart from the warehouse also covers an office area. Słubice wasn’t chosen at random. As reported by “Puls Biznesu”, the most important factor for BMW was a strategic location by the international E-30 route - the major road link between Poland and Germany. According to unofficial sources, it appears that the Słubice investment will cost app. 30 million PLN and provide employment at the centre for 70-80 workers. (PB) MACROECONOMIC POLAND
Source: www.nbp.pl FROM THE REGIONS Airbus are only seeking their IT solutions from Łódź Transition Technologies has won a tender worth millions it was announced by an aircraft manufacturer. The firm’s Łódź branch will supply all the strategic IT systems for Airbus.
Transition Technologies are one of the leading providers of programming for the sectors of energy, gas, the motor industry and aviation. The Poland Solution Center (PSC) is located in Łódź - this is one of three R&D centers located across the world, belonging to the company; at the moment it employs 80 people and among its clients are Rolls Royce and Volkswagen, but the most important one is Airbus. - The aircraft manufacturer is so pleased with the Łódź programmers that it’s decided to sign an exclusive contract with them. Only Łódź’s citizens will be working on the most important IT systems that will be cooperating over the lifespan of an Airbus, from the planning of a machine to its destruction - Mr Dariusz Lis, PSC’s director said. The Łódź centre even beat off French companies in the tendering process, which had earlier been in cooperation with Airbus. The IT specialists will work on the programming to create the Airbus A350 and A380 - a two tiered giant that will carry 550 passengers. - We’ll immediately take on 50 staff due to the contract, with a further 70 next year. - Mr Lis, stated. - The team will then number 200 personnel. Airbus, whose headquarters are to be found in Toulouse, has three large factories; the parts are made in Germany and Britain, with the planes’ assembly taking place in France. (GW) ANALYSES AND REPORTS The EU grants are an injection of energy for Poland’s economy In 2006 alone, EU money could have given the Polish economy an additional 1.24 points growth. In 2007 this might have been 1.71 points - “Gazeta Wyborcza” stated.
From the moment jointly financed programmes from EU funds were established, over 80 thousand projects of a joint value of 97 billion PLN have been financed; of which 61% have been completed. Their value was 16 billion PLN, of which European support comprised 7.7 billion PLN - it was announced by the Ministry of Rural Development in a summary of the results from the funds granted to Poland under the previous EU budget for 2004-2006. 56% of the value of all the current projects, are investments in the sphere of infrastructure, 32.5% are related to manufacturing investments and 9.5% of projects are in relation to human resources. The majority - almost 59% of the capital for the period was designated for development of the transport infrastructure and of environmental utilities. As a result of the structural funds alone, 319 thousand new jobs have been created in Poland (3/4 of these permanent jobs). EU money has been used to build or modernize 2,480 km of roads in the voivodships, poviats and gminas (both local authorities), together with 2,262 km of new sewers. The EU has also funded the construction of 2,074 km of waterworks, 92 new sewage works, 57 water treatment plants and almost 6 thousand small agricultural sewage plants. Polish businessmen have also made use of EU funds - particularly the small and medium sized firms. Up to now 11 billion PLN in grants have been issued for investments in machines and apparatus. A further 4 billion PLN is to be spent on consultancy and on development of a system for small loans and grants etc... The stream of money hasn’t passed the farmers by; they have used EU money to buy 211 thousand items of livestock and 32 thousand agricultural machines. (www.mrr.gov.pl / GW)  Editorial office: Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, 00-585 Warsaw, Bagatela Street 12Economic Promotion Department tel: (+48 22) 334 98 15, fax: (+48 22) 334 99 98, e-mail: redakcja@paiz.gov.pl | |||||||||||
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