The president of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski and President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan took part in the Poland-Armenia Economic Forum co-organised by PAIiIZ. They encouraged businessmen from both countries to develop closer mutual business contacts.

The Forum took place on 25th of June in Warsaw Hilton Hotel and was attended by over 200 guests - representatives of Polish and Armenian companies, trade associations and media. Food and agricultural products, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, transport, constructions, tourism and petrochemistry, those were the most widely represented industries.

The president of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski

President Komorowski reminded that, Polish-Armenian trade relations have a long history - ‘Historically, there were many great examples of successful co-operation; nevertheless it is worthwhile to work towards adding few more’ - he remarked, when at the forum. The president also stated that he hopes that Armenia-EU association agreement will be signed in autumn.  Armenia, along side with Georgia and Moldova, is one of the 3 counties scheduled to do so during Novemeber’s Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius. President Sargsyan also referred to the history of Polish-Armenian relations reminding that Polish kings used to invite Armenians to settle in many Polish towns, where they were granted various privileges.

The president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan

Armenian president prised the current state of the Polish economy, stressing that ‘the fate favours those who wake up early and fight hard for a better life’. At the same time he pointed out that mutual economic relations are currently underdeveloped and require intensification. He called Polish and Armenian entrepreneurs for a greater activity in both markets - ‘ We both decided that it is necessary to support idea of such economic forums as this one’ - he said referring to the talks with Bronislaw Komorowski.

Polish secretary of the state at Ministry of Economy Tomasz Tomczykiewicz and Armenian Minister of Economy Varhram Avanesyan, also were present at the forum representing their departments.  According to the vice-minister Tomczykiewicz a resumed air link between Warsaw and Yerevan (re-opened on 15th of June) will be a great support for expanding Polish-Armenian trade relations - ‘the two way transport will facilitate greatly a creation of the new business contacts, I also hope that it will lead to an increase in tourism’ he said.

From the left - the president of PAIiIZ Sławomir Majman, the director of ADA Robert Harutyunyan, the undersecretary of the state at Ministry of Economy Tomasz Tomczykiewicz, the Armenian Ministry of Economy Varhram Avanesyan.

The minister Avanesyan mentioned the Armenia-EU association agreement’s negotiations that his government is currently conducting, as well as Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agrement (DCFTA) EU -Armenia. ‘We hope for to conclude the talks in a timely manner, which will have a great positive impact on intensification of our mutual economic relations’- he stated. The forum was led by the president of PAIiIZ Slawomir Majman and the general director of Armenian Development Agency (ADA) Rober Harutyunyan.

B2B talks between Polish and Armenian entrepreneurs

Before the official part of the forum a bilateral talks between Polish and Armenian entrepreneurs were organised. For most of them it was a chance to establish some first contacts with potential business partners, which may have an incremental effect on currently small volume of the bilateral trade (USD 32.7 mln). The polish export to Armenia is much bigger than import. Last year the value of the polish goods sold in the Armenian market was equal to USD 32.1 mln, however the import was just USD 0.26 mln. In last three years polish main export products to Armenia are engineering products, chemicals and food products. The Armenian import is dominated by metal products and food products. During the forum, the Armenian Minister of Economy Varhram Avanesyan and the Polish secretary of the state at Ministry of Economy witnessed the signing of the co-operation agreement between Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan (PKPP Lewiatan) and the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen (Employers) of Armenia.

In this year edition of World Bank’s report Doing Busines Armenia is ranked 32nd (up 18 positions) -therefore is the most business friendly destination of all the countries of Commonwealth of Independent States. (PAIiIZ)

PAIiIZ has so far, completed 25 investment projects of aggregated value of Euro 534.6 mln. Thanks to the new investments 7773 new jobs will be created. The agency is currently leading 157 investment projects of the total value of Euro 4146.32 mln that will generate 28 659 new jobs. The most active investors are : USA (42 investment projects, worth Euro 852.75 mln, planned employment 7473), Germany (18 projects, Euro 481.8 mln, 3370 new jobs) and China (16 projects, Euro 383.5 mln, 3358 jobs), further down the line there are the UK (10 projects, Euro 25.7 mln, 1418 jobs), Switzerland (9 projects, Euro 17.5 mln, 774 jobs) and India (7 projects, Euro 120.3 mln, 1100 jobs).

The most popular industries are: BPO (39 projects, Euro 37.55mln, 9177 jobs), automotive industry (21 projects, Euro 1292.5 mln , 6704 jobs), R&D (14 projects, Euro 12 mln, 1389 jobs), ICT (8 projects, Euro 254.45 mln, 770 jobs), food industry (8 projects, Euro 308.5 mln, 1260 jobs). (PAIiIZ)

The investment consists of a further development of already existing plant “Łódź 1” in form of adding a production and storage facility. This development will increase the production capacity of the plant.

The company Hutchinson Poland Sp. z o.o. is a part international capital group Hutchinson that focuses on production of rubber and synthetic materials for industrial purposes, especially for automotive, aviation and military industries.  The company owes five facilities in Poland that produce components utilised in automotive and aviation industries by such well known companies like GM, Fiat, Renault-Nissan, Honda, Ford, Audi, Volvo, Porsche, Seat. (ŁSEZ)

Amber Energia Centrum Usług Sp. z o.o. (owed by Amber Energia S.A. an energy broker and renewable energy producer) will provide services such as: HR, accounting, customer service, data base management and IT infrastructure and system management. As a part of the investment the company plans building new and developing existing IT systems along with company’s internet portals. Amber Energy Centrum Usług will hire at least 10 new employees and plans to invest at least PLN 1mln. (ŁSEZ)

The HSBC Service Delivery project is located within premises of Kraków Business Park i Zabierzów sub zone. The company plans to create an innovative support service centre with IT support focus for other members of HSBC group. It is predicted that the facility will provide in total over 1000 jobs for highly skilled employees. It is already 14th permit issued by Kraków Technology Park in 2013, to put that in the perspective KPT issued 13 permits in whole year 2012. (KPT)

Forum accompanied by a visit to Poland of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, Mrs Yingluck Shinawatra. The official opening of the Forum will be attended by Prime Ministers of both countries.

It is forecasted the participation of dozens representatives of Thai companies and the most important representatives from the government of Thailand. We count on the presence of the Polish business, particularly companies of the food, automotive, energy, construction, tourism sectors as well as representatives of the Polish regions.

Polish companies interested in participating in the forum, and cooperation with companies from Thailand are asked to complete an application form on-line (http://www.paiz.gov.pl/Polska-Tajlandia) no later than 1 July 2013. (PAIiIZ)

According to the latest UNCTAD report the value of global FDI declined in 2012 by almost one fifth. According to the latest UNCTAD report shows that the value of global FDI declined in 2012 by almost one fifth. The largest drop occurred in developed countries, mainly in the EU (about two thirds decline in the world). It has been reported in 22 of 38 developed economies, including the 16 European countries. FDI in this group of countries has fallen by 32%, to their lowest level in nearly 10 years (USD 0.56 billion).

The crisis reached almost all sectors of the economy. The smallest declines have affected manufacturing industries (foodstuffs, tobacco, pharmaceutical), and business services sector, communications, transportation and logistics.

From the investment agencies point of view the important news is that in the long-term the most severe source of FDI are reinvestments. Profits from existing investments in 2012 amounted to about 1.5 billion USD and approximately one third of them remained in the country of investment. The average rate of return on FDI is currently around 7% globally and 5% in developed countries.

In field of obtaining FDI lead developing countries, attracting about 52% of global FDI. They are also responsible for about one third of investment outflow, and in this field they reinforce.

According to the UNCTAD, the value of global FDI in Poland declined in 2012 by 82%. This result was heavily influenced by the scale of capital in transit*, which in 2012 grew in the world seven times. Without taking into account the capital in transit, Polish FDI in 2012 would show significant effects of the crisis, but would not be at such a low level.

The UNCTAD report shows that on a global scale the value of greenfield projects dropped in 2012 by one third. In Poland, which was placed second in terms of new projects of this kind in the entire European Union, this value decreased only by 7.6% to USD 11.5 billion. Data on greenfields show that while the average size of projects has decreased, the investors’ interest in Poland and ability to generate new jobs are high. These data are declarations of investors - therefore constitute an excellent prognosis for investment flows in 2013 and 2014.

In the annual survey by UNCTAD questioning investors about the most attractive countries to invest in the years 2013-2015, Poland was ranked fourth in Europe and the fourteenth in the world.

* Capital in transit are transactions of so-called special purpose entities, which at the request of the mother company due to tax optimization, make transfers of funds by some countries. (PAIiIZ)

The representatives of the polish institutions responsible for attracting foreign investments had an opportunity to meet with managers of Chimirec Development, a company that operates in dangerous industrial waste processing market, and George V, which specialises in developing international projects in renewable energy and real estate sectors.

Visit at Chimirec Development company

The participants had a chance to learn how to harness public-private partnership formula to finance the science and culture projects realised by the local governments using an example of the 12 middle schools that were constructed or renovated thanks to such projects.

B2B meetings with French entrepreneurs

On the last day of the mission a conference on investment attractiveness of Eastern Poland was held, followed by B2B meeting with French companies, that was very popular with the French entrepreneurs.

B2B meetings with French entrepreneurs

 The mission was organised as a part of Economic Promotion of Eastern Poland programme. (PAIiIZ)

A visit in Paris was a chance for aviation industry entrepreneurs from Eastern Poland to make an appearance at the Paris Air show fair, thus gaining a chance to establish some direct contacts with the main business partners of that event.

The international air fair Paris Air Show are held every second year in the Paris airport Le Bourget. The event, along with Berlin Air Show and Farnborough Air show, is one of the most important aviation and aerospace sector exhibitions in Europe.

Polish potential in this industry was also presented by Aviation Valley (Stowarzyszenie Dolina Lotnicza), who co-operated with Rzeszów City Council and Podkarpackie Voivodship Marshal's Office by jointly organising the promotional stand for the region and Aviation Valley.

On 17th of June Polish companies took part in Australian-Polish Business Matching that took place in the sector occupied by Australian companies. It was unique opportunity to meet representative of Australian aviation industry, exchange experiences and compare the specifc of the two distant markets.

On 21st of June a short working meeting between the companies from Eastern Poland and the undersecretary of the state at Ministry of Economy Dariusz Bogdan took place. The underseretary was visting the Paris Air Show fair on that day.

Ten companiese participated in the trade mission: REMOG Polska, Design and Service company WALDREX, Air Magic, Metrol from Mielc, Ultratech from Sędziszów Małopolski, Royal-Star from Dębica, Parasnake from Kielce, AIR RES Aviation from Jasionki, Norbert Polska S.A. and CAV Aerospace Limited Sp. z o.o from Rzeszów. (PAIiIZ)