Drawing attention to the east

The Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ) has unveiled a new program aiming at diminishing the growing disparity in the flow of FDI between Poland's eastern and western regions. So far, Poland's west has proven far more attractive to foreign investors. The list of large investors in western voivodships is twice as long as that for eastern regions.

"It is significant that the main part of the promotional work is organized around the topics of new technology and alternative energy sources," said Grażyna Sićko, a vice president of PAIiIZ. "We want to emphasize the large potential of the eastern voivodships in this area."

As part of its "Investment Program for the Eastern Regions of Poland" PAIiIZ held a conference on the subject targeted at investors already present in Poland who have so far focused on the western regions.

At the end of May, an economic mission to the US will bring together Polish businesses from Chicago and the local governments of eastern Poland. In mid June an economic conference with over 300 participants, including representatives of the wordlwide Polish expatriate community, will take place in Warsaw, Lublin and Zamość. Polonia Business Centre in Warsaw will be opened during the conference to cater for the needs of business representatives from the Polish expatriate community. 

PAIiIZ hopes that these promotional activities will contribute to growing investments in the east of the country. "These regions have been developing rapidly and now they can be described as weak, but dynamic," said Tomasz Kalinowski of the Institute of Research for Market Economy.

"However, it's not only about the investments - strong promotion is crucial," he said.