The Hindu : Poland seeks investments from Karnataka

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 19, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Poland seeks investments from Karnataka

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE FEB. 18. Karnataka, which has so far been inviting foreign investment, has been sought after by the Prime Minister of Poland, Leszek Miller, to invest in his country and take advantage of its changing economic situation.

The Polish Prime Minister threw open the doors of his country to State entrepreneurs while addressing an Indo-Polish Business Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here on Tuesday.

Mr. Miller said that the State was known the world over for its Silicon Valley — a centre of modern technology. The summit had given an opportunity to businessmen of the State and also the southern States to meet their Polish counterparts and expand cooperation in new areas.

He said that many might remember Poland 20 years ago. "But many of you may have never seen our country. May I encourage all of you to come and see for yourselves how Poland and Central Europe are changing.'' They had successfully transformed and modernised their economies, making it more efficient and competitive.

He said that Poland would join the European Union on May 1, 2004, and it would have a positive impact on the acceleration of its economy. The accession would help in creating new incentives for investors. He acknowledged the drawbacks in his country and said that they were aware of the factors that weakened the enthusiasm of investors. "These difficulties are the remains of a centrally-planned economy which prevailed in Poland over the past 50 years.'' They were working hard on further changes. The Polish Ministry of Economy, Labour and Social Policy was preparing an analysis of the factors hampering investment in the country. Mr. Miller said that the Polish market was not only open to traditional Indian goods such as tea, coffee and textiles but also electro-technical products, computer software, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. There were great opportunities for cooperation with Polish defence industries. They wanted economic cooperation from Indian States such as Karnataka. The past president of CII, N. Kumar, said that Poland's entry into the EU next year would throw up opportunities. Poland was one of the emerging economies in the world. He said the Polish President, Aleksander Kwasniewaski, had led a trade delegation to India in 1998.

Mr. Miller is heading a high-level business delegation, which includes Andrzej Zdebski, Deputy Minister for Economy, Labour and Social Policy, and Marek Kloczko, Secretary-General of the Polish Chamber of Commerce, which was established in 1990.

On his arrival at the airport, Mr. Miller was received by the Governor, T.N. Chaturvedi, the Minister of State for Information Technology and Tourism, D.B. Inamdar, the Mayor, C.M. Nagaraj, and the Chief Secretary, B.S. Patil.

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