Meeting with Austria’s leading entrepreneurs, talks with Minister of Economy Reinhold Mitterlehner and Deputy Chancellor and Minister of Finance Josef Pröll, and launch of the conference for economic cooperation between Poland and Austria – those were the key themes behind the official visit in Vienna by the Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Waldemar Pawlak, which took place on 21 and 22 October 2009.
MEETING WITH AUSTRIAN ENTREPRENEURS
During the meeting with the Austrian business community, Deputy Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak presented the current economic situation of Poland. "The global economic crisis has touched Poland less than the other European states and our economy is developing dynamically compared to the region”, he informed. Waldemar Pawlak pointed that the deteriorated economic situation in all EU countries has a negative impact on the trade exchange between them. "I hope that the cooperation between Polish and Austrian entrepreneurs will be one of the steps toward alleviation of the current tendency”, the Deputy Prime Minister added.
Waldemar Pawlak also encouraged the Austrian entrepreneurs to invest in Poland, especially in view of upcoming Euro 2012 championships that Poland is preparing for.
According to the Polish Deputy Prime Minister, it is very important to intensify cooperation between the business and science and improve exchange of knowledge between those communities. “Activity of Polish entrepreneurs who invest in modern technologies has a great impact on the condition of the Polish economy.Their successes contribute to higher GDP”, he emphasised.
During the meeting Waldemar Pawlak handed the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland to Mr Veit Sorter, the president of the Association of Austrian Industrialists.
BILATERAL TALKS WITH FEDERAL MINISTER OF ECONOMY REINHOLD MITTERLEHNER
During the bilateral talks, the ministers exchanged economic experiences of the two countries. They also discussed the improvement of the economic situation in the times of crisis.
The Polish Deputy Prime Minister, Waldemar Pawlak, underlined that the current good situation of Poland is an effect of over 20 years of the transformation processes. He pointed that the economic development of Poland against the global crisis can be contributed largely to the activity of small and medium enterprises “The small and medium enterprises sector is flexible.Thanks to that, those companies manage to adjust their operations to the changing market situation", he said. "The crisis in the Polish economy has been also absorbed by the flexible and liquid exchange rate of the Polish złoty vs Euro”, added Waldemar Pawlak.
Austrian Minister ReinholdMitterlehner pointed that Austria has been watching the economic situation of Poland with due recognition. “If the current tendencies sustain, Poland will be the only EU member state to mark positive economic growth in the times of global slow down”, he said.
The minister underlined that Austria is enjoying better forecast now than assumed previously. "We estimate GDP fall at the level of negative 3.5 percent rather than the former negative 4.5 percent”, he said.
The ministers of economy for Poland and Austria agreed that endeavours must be taken now to alleviate the effects of the global crisis. They emphasised that it is important for both countries as well as the other EU states to intensify cooperation to improve uniformity of the European Union market. According to the ministers, existing barriers must be removed persistently to rise the competitiveness of the EU economy worldwide.
MEETING WITH DEPUTY CHANCELLOR AND MINISTER OF FINANCE JOSEF PRÖLL
During his official visit to Austria, the Polish Deputy Prime Minister, Waldemar Pawlak, met with the Austrian Deputy Chancellor and Minister of Finance, Josef Pröll. They talked about, among other things, renewable sources of energy and the expansion of the European Union with new member states.
Waldemar Pawlak expressed his interest in exchange of experiences on the renewable sources of energy. "We want to improve the energy security of our State by developing renewable sources of energy and clean coal technologies.We are counting on the opportunity to transpose Austrian experiences to the Polish land”, he said.
Deputy Chancellor Josef Pröll reminded that as much as 60 percent of the electric power in Austria is generated from the renewable sources, such as water, biomass and wind farms. According to Josef Pröll, it proves that Austrians appreciate and know how to leverage renewable energy. "We have the know-how and years of practice, so I can now declare full readiness to cooperate in that direction”, he pointed.
The ministers also touched on the issue of EU membership and the accession of new states. They expressed hopes that the other EU members will rectify the Lisbon Treaty as Poland did.
CONFERENCE ON ECONOMIC COOPERATION BETWEEN POLAND AND AUSTRIA
When launching the conference promoting economic cooperation between Poland and Austria, the Polish Deputy Prime Minister, Waldemar Pawlak, spoke about Poland assuming leadership in its region. “Our GDP share for Central and Eastern Europe is 40 percent, even though Poland amounts to 24 percent only of the population in that region”, heremarked.
Waldemar Pawlak presented the priority areas of the Lisbon Strategy for Poland, as set out in the National Reform Programme for years 2008-2011. “We want to incentivise the Polish society, improve effectiveness of our institutions and develop innovation in our economy", he said.
After the conference, Waldemar Pawlak spoke with entrepreneurs from both countries that operate on the Austrian market, as well as exchanged comments and encouraged cooperation and development of innovation in business.
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Last year’s trade between Poland and Austria amounted to over EUR 4.7m of total turnover, including 18.9 percent increase in Polish export to Austria up to EUR 2.3bn. Import from Austria increased by 21.6 percent to reach EUR 2.4bn.
Poland is exporting mostly in the area of agriculture and foodstuffs as well as industrial, metallurgy and mineral products.