Chalking up yet more FDI deals

Poland will welcome two breakthrough investments as part of a government investment program whose prime objective is reducing unemployment.

The first is a project by Volvo Polska, which will receive some zł.2.6 million between 2005-7 from the state budget.

Volvo will build a European bus and coach production center in Wrocław, investing some zł.25 million in the region, which, though it attracts most of the new investments coming to Poland, has an unemployment rate that exceeds 20 percent. Volvo has pledged to create and maintain 800 new jobs there within next five years. The company says the center will reach full operation by 2008.

High unemployment, especially among young people, is also a problem faced by the Małopolskie voivodship, where Kraków is located. Here, the panacea will be Delphi Poland, which is to build a research and development (R&D) center.

The state budget will front zł.1 million for the project, while Delphi will invest zł.2 million, creating at least 250 jobs for qualified staff over five years. The center will achieve full operational capacity by the end of 2007.