Executive Focus: Bozena Czaja, Vice President - Finances & Regional Cooperation, Polish Information & Foreign Investment Agency

Executive Focus: Bozena Czaja, Vice President - Finances & Regional Cooperation, Polish Information & Foreign Investment Agency

---

Transcript

How would you describe the current economic relationship between Poland and the UAE?

CZAJA: The Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency is responsible for promoting the Polish economy and attracting foreign direct investment to Poland. Our Prime Minister visited the Emirates last week, which was very helpful for us because it laid the groundwork for our visit to ask investors from this region to come to Poland and invest into our market. We feel confident because we are a very safe country with a very stable economy and stable political system. This is our second visit to the Annual Investment Meeting and we've brought 20 companies with us from different sectors of the Polish economy. I should mention that the strongest sectors of our economy are machinery, aviation, automotive and food-processing. I hope that we have an opportunity to cooperate with The United Arab Emirates; I am very optimistic that businessmen from this country will show interest in investment opportunities in Poland. I recognize that they are looking for good business ventures and we offer that. They are looking for a niche where they can invest and they have shown willingness to cooperate with us, which I'm quite happy about.

What is the agency doing to help investors once they arrive to Poland to navigate some of the procedures?

CZAJA: The rules in Poland are slightly more complicated than those that the businessmen of the Emirates are used to. Despite this fact our agency can help to make it easier. The early stages of investing in Poland are likely the most complicated, and this is where our agency would be the most helpful. After the initial stages, we continue to work with investors at each stage of the process. Our agency is a governmental agency and we are free of charge for our service. Our agency's objective is to facilitate the investment process and I encourage anyone interested in investing in Poland to contact our agency for help.

Are there any incentives in place to attract investors into specific sectors of the Polish economy?

CZAJA: Yes. We don't have exactly free economic zones like in the Emirates, but we have special economic zones where investors have incentives like tax exemptions for a given number of years and estate exemptions for example. Which benefits and exemptions an investor can receive depends on how they would like to spend their money and the volume of their investment. Much of it depends on the type of investment activity as well.

How much foreign investment was Poland able to attract in 2011? What are your projections for 2012/13?

CZAJA: I can say that last year our agency attracted about $1 billion, which is less than 20% of all investments in Poland last year.

Who are your biggest investors outside of the European Union? Which markets are you most keen to expand economic cooperation with?

CZAJA: At the moment our biggest investors come from the United States. The United States is a strong partner of ours and is biggest source of FDI. From Europe, our biggest investors come from Germany, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom and France. In addition to extending our cooperation with The United Arab Emirates, our goal for the future is to concentrate on the emerging markets, countries from BRIC for example. We especially hope to extend our relationship with Brazil, China, and of course India.