Ronal, a global player in the alloy wheel business, is present in Italy, Germany, Spain and Portugal. The company’s plant in Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone has been designed to produce two million wheels per year for such brands as Fiat, Mercedes, BMW and Opel. The investment is worth over €100m. Ronal is to hire 350 employees.

PAIiIZ is currently supporting 37 investment projects from the automotive industry, with a value of €1.4m, which in the future are likely to create over create 9,000 jobs.

More information: www.paiz.gov.pl/20140110/ronal_plant_opened_in_walbrzych. (PAIiIZ / WSEZ)

For 25% of Polish companies, foreign expansion has been defined as a strategic challenge for the nearest years. Moreover, 46% of small businesses and 36% large companies have already decided to enter foreign markets during the two next years. In total, 39% managers of all Polish companies confirm the plans of global expansion. Comparing to Poland’s neighbours, the country appears to be very ambitious. For example, only 23% of Czechs declared their willingness to do business abroad. The survey also shows, that the Polish manufacturing (38%), FMCG (27%) and IT (12 %) sectors lead in terms of preparation for global business activity.

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The nearest neighbourhood is the most preferred business destination for Polish companies. Poles most often choose EU countries, especially Czech Republic and Germany as well as Ukraine and Russia. The CitiBank study also confirmed what PAIiIZ has observed since recently - the growing interest of Polish companies in new markets as Asia and Africa. (Citi Handlowy / PAIiIZ)

According to data from PAIiIZ, the majority of contracts have been signed in such sectors as FMCG, lingerie and yachting. PAIiIZ member of the board, Bożena Czaja, stressed the importance of EU support, thanks to which entrepreneurs form the Polish macro-region have had the chance to participate in trade fairs, missions and conferences, where they meet with the global businesses.

Through such international cooperation, Polish companies create new jobs and develop their activities by creating new production lines, new factories and by buying new equipment.

The results of the survey show, that the largest value of all investments was recorded in the aviation sector, reaching in PLN 20m. In addition, the value of contracts signed by companies representing food sector was worth nearly PLN 100m and was the highest among all sectors. The Podkarpacie province signed contracts amounted to PLN 146m and was the leader in terms of Polish regions.

The Eastern Poland Economic Promotion Programme has been introduced to support the steady increase of economic competitiveness and attractiveness of the region. The EU, countries of the Persian Gulf, US, Russia, China, Korea, India are the most important markets of promotional activities of the Programme. The strategic sectors of the region include: food, wood and furniture, BPO, yachting, aviation, chemical, machinery, renewable energy and tourism. (PAIiIZ)

In the Zone, Thom-Polska plans to build offices, a, grinding facility, warehouses and a fire-resistant pool. The company specialises in the precision machining of metal parts.

An automotive company, CM3-Poland, will invest in a new production and warehouse hall with modern machinery for those facilities.

Elettroplast, which products machinery for surfaces’ chemical treatment, will spend PLN 2.3m to operate in the Lubań Subzone. (Mo-I Multimedia)

Kronospan HPL is to invest at least PLN 18m and create 10 new jobs in the Debica sub-zone.

The company plans to expand the existing offer of products and implement the improved quality lacquered boards and panels, which a digital printing can be directly applied on. To achieved that, Kronospan HPL will modernise its production and warehouse hall. (ARP)

The company will produce ABS edging for furniture panels made of environmentally-friendly materials which can be fully recycled. Schilsner Industry Group is the 45th company with Polish capital operating in the Wałbrzych SEZ. Together, all companies doing businesses there employ over 3,500 people. The total sum of invested in the Zone is around PLN 1 billion. (WSEZ "Invest-Park")

The newest project will be divided into two stages. In the first, Padma 3.0 will build a production and warehouse hall, with a production line for manufacturing articles made by wood, wood panels and plastic. Next, Padma is going to build a logistics centre with a production line designed to produce mirrors, shelves, furniture fronts, chairs and armchairs for IKEA.

The company plans to start the newest investment in the spring and complete it by the end of next year. The investor will hire 300 new employees at the outset and eventually expand the number of employees to 1,000 people. (Ministry of Economy)

Deputy speaker of the Sejm Cezary Grabarczyk, under-secretary of state in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Katarzyna Kacperczyk, under-secretary of state in the Ministry of Economy Ilona Antoniszyn-Klik, PAIiIZ president Sławomir Majman and President of Łódź Regional Chamber of Commerce Witold Gerlicz have announced their participation in the event.

The conference is addressed to Polish entrepreneurs interested in cooperating with African promising markets.

Registration is available at : www.paiz.gov.pl/goAfrica2013 until 12 pm on 20 January.

Media accreditation is available by beata.jez@paiz.gov.pl until 12 pm on 20 January. (PAIiIZ)

The meeting is addressed to Polish entrepreneurs cooperating with Indian partners or interested in starting such cooperation. During the seminar current economic linkages between the two countries will be presented. Participants will also discuss prospective areas of providing business and trade as well as opportunities of investment cooperation.

More information: www.kig.pl/znajd-zagranicznego-partnera/bwzz/3744.html. (KIG)

During the last SIAL Fair in May 2013, which attracted more than 41,000 visitors, while 2,100 exhibitors from almost 80 countries presented their products. The offers of 20 Polish food companies was also presented there at the Eastern Poland stand.

This year in May, under the Eastern Poland Economic Promotion Programme, Polish entrepreneurs will be able to present their offer for the third time.

Companies wishing to take part should register their interest by 23 January.

More information: www.paiz.gov.pl/20140102/PW_targi_Sial_China_2014_w_Shanghaju_12-16_maja_2014. (PAIiIZ)

The meeting is divided into two discussion panels where speakers will present support instruments for Polish companies and share their knowledge about the possibility of their use in practice. The conference will finish with a Q&A session.

The event is organised by PAIiIZ and Employers of Poland. Participation is free, the number of places is limited.

Polish / English translation is available.

Registration is available on www.paiz.gov.pl/instrumenty_wsparcia by 31 January, 3 pm.

Media accreditation available by e-mail: beata.jez@paiz.gov.pl up to 31 January, 12 am. (PAIiIZ)

During the period January-November 2013, one could observe the continuation of a trend of a significantly faster growth of exports to emerging markets and less developed markets (the increase by 11.4% to €25.8 billion) than to developed ones (an increase by 4.6% to €115.2 billion). Imports from the less developed markets declined by 1.8% (to €49.2 billion), whereas imports from the group of developed countries increased by 1.4% to €93.4 billion.

Among Poland's more important trade partners, a year-on-year was noted with Sweden, Slovakia, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Czech Republic, Great Britain and France. Rising imports were recorded from US, China, Great Britain and Belgium. In contrast, Poland's trade declined with Netherlands and Italy. A decline in imports was recorded from Russia, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Germany.

In terms of sectors, the food and agriculture exports grew by 10.4% (to €18.2 billion). The chemical industry also increased its exports by 7.7%, reaching €20.2 billion. (Ministry of Economy / CSO)

Industrial production increased by 3.0% y/y across the whole EU. In November 2013 compared with October 2013, seasonally adjusted industrial production also grew - by 1.8%. (Eurostat)

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Poland gained such a good position thanks to the simplification of procedures for issuing construction permits and improvement of doing business in the country.

Poland is ranked 23rd out of 43 countries in the Europe region, and its overall score is above the world average. The highest places among European countries have been given to Estonia (4th in Europe), Germany (8th), Lithuania (11th) and Czech Republic (15th). Poland is followed by Hungarians, Slovaks and Ukrainians.

At the top of the global Index of Freedom there are: Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland.

The report listing countries by the Index of Economic Freedom is published annually by The Wall Street Journal and Heritage Foundation. (www.heritage.org)

A recent audit of the International Monetary Fund shows that Poland has such a stable situation, which allows access to the Flexible Credit Line granted by the IMF. This trend confirms the financial and economic stability of the country. (www.inf.org)

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The newly incorporated land covers the Jaszkowa Dolna area and has been prepared for the construction of production facilities and large facilities for rent as warehouses and commercial buildings.

One of the strategic objectives of Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone "Invest-Park" for 2014 is to increase the zone’s area at least to 2,400 hectares. (WSEZ "Invest-Park")

Gdańsk won the 31st place in the Guardian’s ranking. According to the newspaper, the city is worth visiting in 2014 due to the upcoming opening of the European Solidarity Centre, local beers and cuisine and close proximity to the resort of Sopot. The list of the wold’s best place to visit in the current year is opened by Cape Town. Ranking includes also such cities as Abu Dhabi, Budapest, Calcutta and Alaçatı. As was pointed out by the Guardian, some of these sites are organisers of big events, others have just started to attract tourists. Each of them is unique and exciting.

City of Gdańsk (@ jholy-Fotolia.com)

Meanwhile, Krakow has been recognized as the most interesting tourist town on the Old Continent by readers of the Zoover website. The capital of Małopolska has overtaken even Seville, Venice, Rome and Barcelona. Nightlife, culture and environment has been taken into account, when assessing the cities. Kraków scored very well thanks to its culture and hotel offer. (www.theguardian.com / weblog.zoover.com)