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Poland’s outstanding economic performance in 2009 is the best recommendation of the country for foreign investors, said deputy prime minister and the minister of economy Waldemar Pawlak, who delivered a keynote speech at the Foreign Investors Summit, an event organized by AmCham to present its report “20 Years of American Investmets” which the influence of American companies on the Polish economy in 1990-2010, compiled in cooperation with consulting firm KPMG.

“The economic potential of Central and Eastern Europe including its population of nearly 180 million including Ukraine and Belarus, is larger than that of Russia, also including GDP, and Poland is the largest country of the region,” he said, adding that this is a very important aspect of the CEE region. In terms of CEE population Poland is 1/4 of it; in terms of GDP Poland is 1/3, both aspects important for FDI. “Poland has a very stable internal market and is politically stable as well,” he said adding that the service and construction sectors are Poland’s solid base for developing the economy in the future.

Pawlak added that last year Poland was the only country in the European Union to generate a positive GDP growth, leaving other E.U. countries approximately 4 percentage points behind on average.

Pawlak akso said that the positive GDP growth was generated despite the fact that Poland’s main trading partners are the countries of the euro-zone, especially Germany, Poland’s largest trading partner that saw a major drop in GDP in 2009.

The report illustrates the evidence of the entrepreneurial spirit presented by American companies with over 50% of American investment in Poland being done before 1995, which is the early state of Poland’s economic transformation.

Among key findings, of the Report the report states the amount of the total U.S. investment in Poland since the start of the country’s economic transformation in 1989 at USD 20 billion. So far the amount of money American companies invested in Poland was a guesswork with different institutions, such as the Polish Central Bank, NBP, and the Agency for Foreign Investment and Information PAIiIZ, quoting different numbers. KPMG arrived at the USD 20 billion by tracking back the capital inflows to Poland from intermediary countries such as the Netherlands and surveying companies which invested below USD 1 million. Those factors are routinely omitted by state institutions charged with monitoring foreign direct investment to Poland.

The second part of the Foreign Investors Summit was devoted to the cooperation between business and academia.Among the panelists were Leszek Grabarczyk, director of the Implementation and Innovation Department at the Ministry of Science and Education, Henryka Bochniarz, President of Boeing Central and Eastern Europe, and the President of the Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan. The main conclusion of the discussion, facilitated by Jerzy Thieme, cho-chair of the AmCham European Union Affairs Committee, was that without an education adjusted to the needs of the business sector, the Polish economy will not remain competitive on the world stage.

Industry-Academia cooperation in Poland. Challenges and ways to narrow the gap. Report of the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland.

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