Poland welcomes more Chinese investment

WARSAW - Poland has a strong investment environment and welcomes more Chinese companies to invest in the country, a senior Polish economic official say.

"I want to tell the Chinese business communities and entrepreneurs that the investment environment in Poland is the best," Slawomir Majman, president of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, told Xinhua.

Majman emphasized that the government and Polish companies attach great importance to China and want to take a major step forward in China-Poland cooperation.

Regarding China as the most important and biggest export market, the Polish government has in recent years been actively promoting itself to China, Majman said.

In March, Poland launched a special "GO CHINA" project in a bid to expand and deepen economic and trade exchanges with China, to attract more Chinese investment, and expand cooperation between enterprises of both countries, Majman said.

"It's like a symphony, which was joined by eight Polish departments together, such as the Ministry of the Economy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Tourism, the Information and Foreign Investment Agency and the Polish Association of Enterprises," Majman said.

"It has never happened before in my impression," he said. "Never was there a 'Go USA' or a 'Go Australia' in the past. This is specially tailored for China."

In addition, the two countries continue to strengthen high-level political contacts.

Waldemar Pawlak, the deputy prime minister and economy minister, and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski will visit China this year to expand economic and trade cooperation, Majman said.

Majman said the investment environment in Poland has been greatly improved in recent years and the country welcomes more Chinese investment, whether from state-owned or private businesses.

Poland was ranked sixth on the list of "the world's most attractive investment countries" made by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in 2011, Majman said.

He noted that Poland's foreign direct investment in 2011 increased 46 percent while the European Union average growth rate stood at 17 percent.