Hi-tech expectations

Trade between Poland and Israel is on the up. Last year, the value of Poland's exports to Israel grew by 32 percent y-o-y, to $127 (zł.360) million. Exports from Israel to Poland grew by 21 percent during the same period, to $178 (zł.505) million.

While the exchange is highest in such areas as food, chemicals and minerals, the hi-tech sector has been gaining more importance recently. Between 2005 and 2006, for example, the rate of exchange of electronics between Poland and Israel grew by 20 percent, and in communications technology by 132 percent, according to data from the Israeli Embassy.

For Poland, cooperation in the hi-tech sector with a country like Israel could be extremely advantageous. The hi-tech industry is well known as a driving force in the Israeli economy. Moreover, the scale of its innovation allowed Bill Gates to call Israel "a part of the Silicon Valley."

"Israeli technology is one of the best in the world [moreover], our companies are operating more dynamically than anywhere else," declared Mordechay Mordechay, Director General at the Israeli Ministry of Communications at the fifth Polish-Israeli Hi-Tech Business Forum held by the Polish Chamber of Commerce (KiG) and Globus Gate Group.

In addition, the relatively low penetration of hi-tech goods on the Polish market, combined with the market's substantial size, means there is considerable potential for growth in Polish-Israeli cooperation, Avi Friedman, from the Economic Department at the Embassy of Israel, pointed out. Friedman told WBJ that although economic contacts between the two countries have been developing in the right direction, he would welcome greater engagement in cooperation on both sides. He added, however, that an agreement on R&D cooperation between Poland and Israel is being prepared and is due to be signed in two years' time at the latest.