Business

Titanic Belfast to host major Poland-Northern Ireland summit on June 2

EXTENDING trade connections and encouraging joint-ventures and distribution partnerships between Poland and Northern Ireland will be the focus of a major day-long conference in Titanic Belfast next month.

Poland's ambassador to the UK Witold Sobków will join senior Stormont government officials at the first-ever NI-Poland summit on June 2, which aims to further improve bi-lateral business links already worth more than £200 million a year.

More than a dozen Northern Ireland companies, including the likes of Kainos and Delta Print & Packaging, already have strong foothold in Poland.

The free-to-attend conference - organised by Trade & Investment Section of the Polish Embassy in London and Jerome Mullen (Honorary Consul of Poland in Northern Ireland) in partnership with the Polish National Tourist Of?ce in London - will explore how links can improve further.

Earlier this year Poland’s government accepted a resolution concerning a long-term economic development plan for the country, proposed by its development minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

The so-called “Morawiecki plan” has identified five challenges that Poland faces, notably the middle-income trap, lack of balance between Polish and foreign capital, the lack of innovative products, the demographic trap, and the weak institutions trap.

In order to overcome them, the government has singled out strategic sectors of the economy which will be supported by the state, where spending on R&D, for example is set to reach two per cent of GDP, compared to just 0.8 per cent at present.

Under the plan, a staggering one trillion zloty, roughly £170 billion, will be spent on investments within the coming decade. The money will come from European funds, Polish companies’ savings and state-owned companies and the programme will be carried out in cooperation with international institutions such as the World Bank.

Mr Mullen said: "Our conference will bring together eminent experts in the ?elds of politics, economics and business. Delegates will engage in a lively debate to discover and discuss the inestimable investment opportunities of contemporary Poland, but most importantly to develop international connections.

"Our distinguished guests will include MPs and MLAs, market experts, entrepreneurs, major enterprises, business leaders, regional chambers of commerce, signi?cant business organisations and key decision makers from both Northern Ireland and Poland."

Part of the conference will be dedicated to the “Discover Powerful Connections”, which promotes the most attractive Polish investment regions and presents benefits of the special economic zones policy in Poland.

It will also showcases latest successful Northern Irish-Polish business ventures including Delta's £40m investment in a packaging plant in a 100,000 sq ft production facility in Gliwice, and Kainos opening an office in Gdansk in March employing 500 people.

There are currently 30,000 Poles living in Northern Ireland, many now second generation, and it makes up the largest migrant group settled here from within the EU.

:: The conference (9am-5.30pm) is free to attend and you can register by going to at www.polishconsulateni.org/event/business-conference-belfast-2016/ or by emailing jeromemullen@polishconsulateni.org