Petting the Panda
The $120 million contract signed last week, which calls for KGHM to deliver some 40,000 tonnes of copper to the Far East in 2005, is just the first phase in an agreement drawn up in July of this year over the sale of 300,000 tonnes of copper to China, worth $900 million, before 2010.
"China is the largest and the most important of our foreign clients," said KGHM president Wiktor Błądek. "This contract is a milestone in our cooperation and at the same time it is clearing the path for other Polish firms willing to invest in that country."
Meanwhile, the leader on the other side of the deal, president of MINMETAL Miao Gengsu, has proposed establishing an association of Polish and Chinese entrepreneurs willing to support economic relations.
This comes just a few months after Chinese president Hu Jintao paid a visit to Poland (the first visit here by a Chinese president since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1949), when he and President Kwaśniewski signed a joint declaration pledging to work for a "friendly and cooperative partnership."
Raw materials like copper still make up the bulk of Polish exports to China, while Chinese imports in Poland abound-mainly electronic equipment, toys, construction materials and textiles. While trade between the two countries reached $3.1 billion in 2003, most of it comes in the form of Chinese imports.
But the bilateral trade deficit with China shouldn't necessarily be viewed as a bad thing, especially considering the relative size difference. In fact, Poland may stand to benefit in the future from more foreign direct investment (FDI) coming from the monster of the Far East.
"China is one of the most important parts of the new strategy of our organization," says Andrzej Zdebski, president of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ), an organization charged with increasing the inflow of FDI into Poland. He says China is a major source for capital in Poland, and cites a recently passed Chinese policy that calls for increased investment outside of their country.
Zdebski points to a recent report by the Boston Consulting Group that reveals the cost of production in Poland in some sectors is even lower than in China, for instance with refrigerator manufacturing. Moreover, he thinks China might even be interested in investing in Poland's communication infrastructure, for example. "Why not?" he says, pointing out that China would benefit from improved communication with Poland as with all of the new and old EU.
"China is the largest and the most important of our foreign clients," said KGHM president Wiktor Błądek. "This contract is a milestone in our cooperation and at the same time it is clearing the path for other Polish firms willing to invest in that country."
Meanwhile, the leader on the other side of the deal, president of MINMETAL Miao Gengsu, has proposed establishing an association of Polish and Chinese entrepreneurs willing to support economic relations.
This comes just a few months after Chinese president Hu Jintao paid a visit to Poland (the first visit here by a Chinese president since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1949), when he and President Kwaśniewski signed a joint declaration pledging to work for a "friendly and cooperative partnership."
Raw materials like copper still make up the bulk of Polish exports to China, while Chinese imports in Poland abound-mainly electronic equipment, toys, construction materials and textiles. While trade between the two countries reached $3.1 billion in 2003, most of it comes in the form of Chinese imports.
But the bilateral trade deficit with China shouldn't necessarily be viewed as a bad thing, especially considering the relative size difference. In fact, Poland may stand to benefit in the future from more foreign direct investment (FDI) coming from the monster of the Far East.
"China is one of the most important parts of the new strategy of our organization," says Andrzej Zdebski, president of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ), an organization charged with increasing the inflow of FDI into Poland. He says China is a major source for capital in Poland, and cites a recently passed Chinese policy that calls for increased investment outside of their country.
Zdebski points to a recent report by the Boston Consulting Group that reveals the cost of production in Poland in some sectors is even lower than in China, for instance with refrigerator manufacturing. Moreover, he thinks China might even be interested in investing in Poland's communication infrastructure, for example. "Why not?" he says, pointing out that China would benefit from improved communication with Poland as with all of the new and old EU.
