UK Poland Trade and Investment Roadshow, Doncaster

British businesses in Northern England introduced to Polish opportunities

For the fifth year running, the BPCC was actively promoting trade and investment opportunities to companies around the UK. This year, St Helens and Doncaster were the venues for the half-day seminars, which attracted around 60 British businesses from around North West England and Yorkshire respectively.

Working closely with St Helens Chamber and Doncaster-based Britpol, four BPCC members presented areas of interest to British firms. Michael Dembinski, head of policy at the BPCC gave a macroeconomic overview of the Polish market; Andrew Blatiak, managing director of Mantle Executive Development presented the scope for obtaining EU grants and funds for business activities in Poland; Przemek Oleksy, managing director of ASB Poland talked delegates through various strategies for entering the Polish market; Izabela Fechner senior project manager at the Kosztryńsko-Słubicka Special Economic Zone (KSSSE) – the closest SEZ to the UK – set out the benefits of locating operations in the zone and Szymon Murawski, senior associate at DLA Piper Wiater contrasted Polish and English law in the business context, focusing on tax, property and labour law in Poland. Michael Dembinski closed the presentation session with a look at the Polish population as a labour and consumer market.

As the UK economy shows no prospects of growth in the coming year or two, many UK companies are turning to EU Member States where there’s little or no threat of recession. In the case of Poland, the carrot of €67 billion of EU structural and cohesion funds is a further enticement to British business anxious to find a growth market.

Michael Dembinski, head of policy at the BPCC, says “The success of the event will be measured by how many delegates’ companies decide to invest in or trade with Poland. Past editions of the Roadshows have resulted in new business between the two countries – as in past editions, there were several serious inquiries this year, which our partners are following up”.

The presentations showed British entrepreneurs just how much has changed in the four and half years since Poland joined the EU. “Poland should no longer be seen as a low-cost labour market – it should be seen an economy higher up the value-added ladder,” said ASB’s Przemek Oleksy. Yet while Poland’s biggest cities have seen spectacular growth and tumbling unemployment, leading to skill shortages that adversely affect foreign investors, there are still places where people can be found and where wages have not increased significantly over the past years. “Western Poland – right on Germany’s border – is a region where unemployment is still very high, and where people are still glad of the chance of a job,” says Izabela Fechner from KSSSE.

Szymon Murawski from DLA Piper Wiater emphasised that “the Polish tax and legal system should not be conceived as a burden or an obstacle to UK investors, as Polish law strictly follows EU regulations and standards. What is also important is that taxpayers may obtain an advance tax ruling protecting their position in matters that could be considered complex or uncertain”.

UK exporters doing business with France, Germany, Scandinavia, Holland or Spain should be selling to Poland, with the pound currently 35% more competitive against the zloty compared to the exchange rate at which Poland joined the EU (despite some panicked selling of the Polish currency during October’s financial crisis). Average monthly wages in Poland have soared from £320 then to £720 today. And Poland is now in the Schengen group of countries, which means freight from Britain can roll across from Germany without even stopping at the border.

Past Roadshow events also visited Birmingham, Bristol, Coventry, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Manchester, Liverpool and London.

Photos:

1. Izabela Fechner, senior project manager, Kosztryńsko-Słubicka Special Economic Zone

2. Przemek Oleksy, managing director, ASB Poland

3. Szymon Murawski, senior associate, DLA Piper Polska

4. Andrew Blatiak, managing director, Mantle Executive Development