Poland: 16 Israel defense firms at MSPO

The Ministry of Defense was proud to exhibit 16 Israel defense firms at MSPO, the defense exhibition that opened (15.08.06) in Kielce, Poland. The Israel defense manufacturers presented a remarkable and wide array of advanced technological capabilities embedded in battle-proven systems.

The national pavilion was organized by SIBAT, the Israel Ministry of Defense department responsible for international defense cooperation and export. IDF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yossi Ben Hanan, Director of SIBAT provided a short speech at the opening ceremony that took place in the presence of the Polish Prime Minister, the Minister of National Defense, the Israel Ambassador to Poland David Peleg and other dignitaries.

"Although the purpose of this Defense Exhibition is to present military equipment and weapon systems produced by different countries and industries, we truly wish and hope that all this arsenal will be used for deterrence only and for peacekeeping missions all over the world," said Ben Hanan.

Ben Hanan added: "This exhibition and the adjunct seminars provide us with ample opportunities for meetings and the exchange of opinions between experts and colleagues, not only on technologies and military matters but also on the aspiration of the international community for securing peace, stability and prosperity based on solid defence capabilities."

'Deeply impressed by Israel Pavilion'

Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland Jaroslaw Kaczynski took part in the inauguration ceremony of the Israeli National Pavilion and toured the impressive displays with his entourage. They inspected advanced intelligence and C4I systems that have proven their worth during the recent war against Hezbullah terrorism in Lebanon.

"I am deeply impressed by the originality and strength displayed in the Israel Pavilion," said Kaczynski. "I hope that cooperation between Poland and Israel will continue to develop in various areas."

Among the Israel defence companies exhibiting at MSPO were Aeronautics, Bet El Industries, Controp, CI Systems, Elbit Systems, Elisra Group, Hidro Noa, IAI, IMI, Motorola, Soltam, Rafael, Tamor and Verint. These Israeli defense firms presented advanced solutions and systems to be used in various anti-terror scenarios for homeland security, coastal and border protection, as well as for rescue and evacuation missions.

Also present at MSPO, were active protection systems developed by IMI, Israel Military Industries and Rafael, promising to be the next

generation in AFV protection. Skylark, Elbit Systems' mini UAV is participating in the Defender competition, sponsored by the Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education. The award is granted to exhibitors presenting the best equipment for Armed Forces and Police for products distinguished by their originality and innovative technology. Competition results will be made public by the end of the show.
Source:ynetnews.com

EU partners Poland, Lithuania reconsider hooking-up power grids

European Union partners Poland and Lithuania are considering hooking up their electrical power grids, Poland's Economy Minister Piotr Wozniak said Thursday. Lithuania is also keen to involve non-nuclear Poland in the construction of a new third nuclear reactor at its Soviet-era Ignalina facility, but no concrete decisions have yet been made.

Fellow EU Baltic states Latvia and Estonia have also been invited to invest in the venture, seen as key to ensuring energy security in a region heavily dependent on Russian energy supplies.

"There have been big changes in the energy supply market in our region in recent years," Poland's Wozniak said, quoted by the Polish PAP news agency.

"Estonia and Latvia have hooked up with a big transit cable, Lithuania have confirmed building a transit cable to Sweden and plan to lay a similar cable to Finland," he said, explaining Poland's decision to reconsider hooking up with north-eastern neighbour Lithuania.

Minister Wozniak was speaking at Poland's 16th annual Krynica Economic Forum which runs through to Saturday. Its aim is to facilitate growth in the emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe.

Dubbed the "Polish Davos", the event has drawn political and business leaders from across Central and Eastern Europe and beyond to the Polish mountain resort of Krynica.
Source:rawstory.com

Chinese company eyes near-billion euro investment in Poland

The Chinese-owned Tian Yu sp z.o.o. company plans to invest between 500 million and one billion euros in a swish lake-side apartment and hotel complex plus yacht port near Poland's north-western Baltic Sea port city of Szczecin. Szczecin city authorities and Tian Yu company representatives signed a letter of intent concerning the project Thursday, the Polish PAP news agency reported.

"Financially we are prepared to begin construction immediately," Tian Yu company president Yu Jian Er said. The company is waiting for final administrative decisions to be made for the project to go ahead.

The swish development is planned around the Dąbie Lake, nearby Szczecin, which is in turn located on the German border and just 130 kilometres north of the German capital Berlin.

Investment from Asian economic Goliath China is slowly beginning to trickle into European Union newcomer Poland and other Central and Eastern European states which also joined the bloc in May 2004.

Total Chinese investment in Poland is currently estimated at just over 50 million dollars by Poland's PAIIZ foreign investment agency.

GD Poland Distribution Centre Ltd., a wholesale complex for mostly Chinese-made clothing and small consumer goods currently tops Chinas investment list. More commonly known as the Chinese Trade Centre it is located 25 kilometre south-east of the Polish capital Warsaw.

According to Poland's official Central Statistical Office (GUS), trade turnover between China and Poland totalled 6 billion dollars in 2005.

Imports to Poland from China, which grew by 35.2 per cent last year, accounted for 5.5 billion dollars of the total in trade and brought Poland's trade deficit with the Asian giant to nearly 5 billion dollars - an increase of nearly 40 per cent over the previous year.

Polish exports to China in 2005 were worth nearly 600 million dollars and consisted primarily of copper, chemicals, machinery and paper.

The Polish Baltic Sea coast city of Koszalin, population 100,000 and located 300 kilometres north-east of Berlin has also drawn Chinese investment.

A bicycle factory worth 3 million was set up two years ago. Media reports suggest another Chinese investment in an LCD monitor factory is currently being planned.
Source:

EU to cut Poland's cod fishing quota in Baltic

In an attempt to help replenish the diminishing cod stocks in the Baltic, the European Commission has proposed a 15-percent cut in Poland's cod fishing quota.

According to reports from Poland's PAP news agency Wednesday, the proposed cod fishing quota in 2007 for Poland is 13,000 tons, some 2,000 tons lower than that in 2006.

The European Commission, EU's executive body, said the overall cod fishing quota for the eastern Baltic should be reduced from over 45,000 tons to 38,500 tons.

The commission also wants to reduce the number of cod fishing days in the Baltic.

The commission admitted that the best way to rebuild cod stocks would be to introduce a complete ban on cod fishing, but it decided to opt for a 15-percent cut to keep economic pressure on the sector as low as possible.

At the same time, the commission proposed to raise the catch quotas of other types of fish in 2007, such as herring and sprat, and leave plaice quota unchanged.

According to the commission, about 81 percent of the fish species in European waters are over-fished, and the cod stocks are declining by 10 percent per year. The global conservation group World Wildlife Fund said the Polish fleet accounts for about one-third of the cod catch in the Baltic sea.

Polish fishermen have challenged the quota cut, claiming that the available cod stocks in the Baltic were actually growing.

Source:english.people.com.cn,

Poland Loses 5% of Workforce to EU as Migrants Seek Better Jobs

More than 1.1 million Poles, or 5 percent of the country's labor force, left home during the past two years for better-paid jobs elsewhere in the European Union, a study by the European Citizen Action Service found.

Western employers say Poles are hardworking, motivated and happy to take positions turned down by locals even if they don't match their level of education, according to the report, which was published yesterday by the Brussels-based organization.

``I had searched for a job as a chemist in Poland and couldn't find one,'' Renata Gorska, 36, who works in the Vitamin-K laboratory at St. Thomas's Hospital in London, said by telephone. ``Now I have a good job where I my work is appreciated.''

Poland, with a population of 39 million, is the biggest of the 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004 and accounts for more than half of the combined population of the new member states. The country's unemployment rate, while still the highest in the EU, fell to a 5 1/2-year low of 15.7 percent in July, more because of emigration than the growing economy.

Poles, mainly between the ages of 25 and 34, are heading mostly to Germany and the U.K. The number of migrants is set to increase, with as many as half of Poles aged 18 to 24 planning to leave over the next two years, the daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported Sept. 4, citing a telephone survey of 500 people.

The U.K., Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy have opened their labor markets to Poles and other citizens of the newest EU members. The Netherlands may do so this year, while Germany and Austria plan to maintain employment restrictions until 2011. Poles work in Germany with permits.

Wage Difference

Some countries have been proactive in recruiting Poles. Scotland, for example, has placed advertisements in Polish in places varying from small Highland towns to Poland's capital, Warsaw, in an aim to persuade people to move to the country.

Although living is more costly in British cities such as London and Edinburgh, Gorska said her salary in pounds allows her to afford more than the zloty she earnings in Poland.

On average, Polish salaries are about 20 percent of those in western Europe, according to EU statistics from Brussels.

``Due to the wage differential, migrants are inclined to take up even these jobs, which do not match their level of education, however still pay better than the original employment would do at home,'' European Citizen Action Service said in the report. The non-profit group provides advice on citizenship and rights.

Kilometer Line

At the same time, the U.K. is trying to adjust to the new influx of workers from eastern Europe, with Poles being the largest group, according to official U.K. government figures.

More than a quarter, or 171,000, of new national insurance numbers given to foreigners last year were issued to Poles, the Department for Work and Pensions reported in July.

The Polish consulate in London, where only six officers deal with problems of a 264,000 population of Poles who live in the U.K., is blocked, Gazeta Wyborcza reported today.

Poles needing a passport, visa or permission to marry have to stand in a kilometer-long line, according to Gazeta, which estimates the number of Poles in Britain at about 500,000 now.

Jakub Czaja, a 16-year-old student who wanted to come back to his school in Poland last Sunday, can't leave London after he lost his passport, Gazeta reported. The consulate said it may take a month to provide him with a copy, according to the daily.

Polish authorities plan to add two more consuls to help service increasing number of customers.

Source: By Marta Waldoch,

Poland looks eastward at Economic Forum in Krynica

The 16th Economic Forum has opened in the southern mountain resort of Krynica. Called the Polish Davos, the event has brought together top ranking politicians and businesmen from countries of Europe, both Americas and Asia. Polish representatives are displaying East oriented interest in this business trend setting gathering.

Among the almost 3 thousand participants of the three day discussions in Krynica there are some eighty guests in ministerial rank expected, almost sixty foreign representatives. Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski is meeting with government heads of Ukraine and Lithuania as well as the president of Georgia and the EU Budget Commissioner.

Zygmunt Berdychowski, one of the event's organizers, says the dominant theme of the Forum are bound to be energy related issues. They will be discussed by the most influential figures in this sector.

'There are heads of the biggest energy and fuel companies from this part of Europe, economy ministers responsible for decisions concerning energy supplies and sales.'

Pawel Zalewski, chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee says decisions relating to energy supplies are often more influenced by political than economic considerations.

'This is of fundamental importance for Poland, but also for other countries of the region. This will mark Poland's position and its capabilities in international cooperation.'

Victor Yanukovych, the new Ukrainian Prime Minister who is currently on his first visit to Poland, has arrived in Krynica for talks with his Polish opposite number Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Speaking to reporters prior to his departure from Kiev, Yanukovych confirmed Ukraine's interest in bilateral economic cooperation with Poland.

'We are very keen on such partnership and we would like to develop it further.'

Professor Stanislaw Gomolka, formerly with the London School of Economics and a participant in the Krynica Forum shares the opinion that both countries have much to gain from tightened economic cooperation.

'Poland and Ukraine, in particular, are very interested in developing a common strategy in a number of areas, the energy sector including, but not only. After all, Ukraine is striving to become an EU member and Poland has consistently promised to be of assistance in that process. There is also a new development, namely Russia. Gazprom is increasing significantly the prices of gas to Ukraine, Belarus and other countries of the former Soviet Union. They therefore feel to be under pressure. In Central Asia, new energy sources are being discovered in a number of countries and they want to develop markets for these minerals. So they are interested in providing an alternative source of energy not only to Central Europe, but even to some countries of Western Europe as well, for instance, to Italy, not to mention Germany.'

Professor Gomolka is also convinced Poland can play a meaningful role in establishing a bridge between countries of the East and West.

'There is this very close interest between Poland and a number of these countries in Central Asia, Georgia, Ukraine, perhaps Turkey in cooperation with some members of the European Union and some Western countries to have an alternative to the commanding position of Russia.'

The 16th Economic Forum in Krynica is hosting discussions till September 9th.
Source:By Slawek Szefs,

Poland: PKP IC railway operator implements ban on smoking

On December 9th, the ban on smoking will be implemented in PKP Intercity (PKP IC) trains. The total ban will be valid in 30 trains – intercity and eurocity ones. In the remaining 140 trains, i.e. express trains and Tanie Linie Kolejowe, there will be no ban.

“It is our initiative. We want to raise the comfort of traveling for the passengers who pay more for their tickets. The ban is in line with the worldwide trend of limiting smoking in public places and the recent ideas of the Polish Ministry of Health which postulated to implement separate carriages for the smokers”, Czeslaw Warsewicz, the temporary PKP IC CEO said.

The passengers themselves wanted these restrictions. “We conducted a poll on 1,000 clients in July to check how flexibly they would react to a smoking ban in our trains. In case of intercity, only 5 percent of the polled people said they would give up the train”, the temporary CEO added. The smoking ban is just one of the elements of the new strategy providing for, among others, new image of the trains and renewed menu in restaurant carriages.

In the first seven months of this year, PKP IC had PLN 16m (EUR 4m) of net income. In July it noted the highest number of passengers in its history – nearly 1 million. This was 13.7 percent more than in July of 2005, and over 35 percent against 2004. At the end of this year, PKP IC expects to have PLN 40m of net income and 11m of passengers.

(PLN 1 = EUR 0.252)

Source:pulsbiznesu.pl

EU says Poland's economy set to grow by 5 per cent in 2006

Poland's economy will grow by 5 per cent in 2006 as part of a European Union-wide recovery, the European Commission said Wednesday. Economic forecasts unveiled by the EU's executive body said the new Polish growth estimates were 0.5 per cent higher than initially expected.

"The ongoing recovery is based on robust gross fixed capital formation, supported by healthy corporate profits and solid external demand, the commission said.

It added that construction activity in the country was strong and a recovery in the labour market was supporting growth.

In the first half of 2006, the unemployment rate declined by 2 percentage points to 16 per cent and the improvement is expected to continue in the second half of the year, albeit at a somewhat slower pace, the commission said.

However, the commission cautioned that higher wage demands, fuelled also by emigration, which created bottlenecks in certain segments of the labour market, would put upward pressure on inflation in the second half of 2006.

"Thus, inflation for 2006 has been revised to 1.3 per cent, up from 1 per cent," it said.

The commission's assessment is part of a review of the state of the EU's largest economies which, in addition to Poland, include Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Britain.
Source:rawstory.com

Poland determined to go ahead with Lithuanian refinery deal, president says

The presidents of Poland and Lithuania said Tuesday they were determined to follow through with Poland's US$2.3 billion (€1.8 billion) purchase of a Lithuanian oil refinery, despite supply problems from Russia.

Polish President Lech Kaczyński, making a two-day visit to Lithuania, said investors had no intention of bailing out of the purchase of Mazeikiu Nafta, despite a Russian decision to cut crude oil supplies to the Baltics' only refinery.

"Poland is very much determined here," he was quoted by the Baltic News Service as saying at a news conference. "We have no intention to sell the shares to any other company.
It has cost us too much effort to sell now."

The sale of Mazeikiu Nafta to Poland's PKN Orlen SA, signed in May but still pending approval by the European Commission, has been mired in uncertainty after Russia ceased supplying crude oil to Lithuania at the end of July, citing a technical breakdown of a pipeline in Belarus.

Lithuanian and Polish politicians accused Russia of trying to sabotage the landmark deal. Kremlin officials had been hoping a Russian oil company would acquire the refinery, which is Lithuania's largest corporation.

Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus echoed Kaczynski's resolve, saying the two countries could overcome the pipeline crisis. He also downplayed speculation that Russia's supply cutoff was politically motivated, acknowledging that pipelines often do break down.

"We do not consider it to be a political challenge to us, and we will find a positive solution if there are such problems," he said.

Kaczynski said he was unsure whether Moscow's explanation for the supply cutoff was genuine, though he said he had received assurances that Russia would continue providing crude via tankers to a Lithuanian terminal on the Baltic Sea. From there, the crude can be pumped to Mazeikiu dent Lech Kaczyński, making a two-day visit to Lithuania, said investors had no intention of bailing out of the purchase of Mazeikiu Nafta, despite a Russian decision to cut crude oil supplies to the Baltics' only refinery.

"Poland is very much determined here," he was quoted by the Baltic News Service as saying at a news conference. "We have no intention to sell the shares to any other company. It has cost us too much effort to sell now."

The sale of Mazeikiu Nafta to Poland's PKN Orlen SA, signed in May but still pending approval by the European Commission, has been mired in uncertainty after Russia ceased supplying crude oil to Lithuania at the end of July, citing a technical breakdown of a pipeline in Belarus.

Lithuanian and Polish politicians accused Russia of trying to sabotage the landmark deal. Kremlin officials had been hoping a Russian oil company would acquire the refinery, which is Lithuania's largest corporation.

Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus echoed Kaczynski's resolve, saying the two countries could overcome the pipeline crisis. He also downplayed speculation that Russia's supply cutoff was politically motivated, acknowledging that pipelines often do break down.

"We do not consider it to be a political challenge to us, and we will find a positive solution if there are such problems," he said.

Kaczyński said he was unsure whether Moscow's explanation for the supply cutoff was genuine, though he said he had received assurances that Russia would continue providing crude via tankers to a Lithuanian terminal on the Baltic Sea. From there, the crude can be pumped to Mazeikiu Nafta, allowing the refinery to keep operating, he said.

Kaczynski was in Vilnius as part of a series of events marking the 15-year anniversary of the restoration of formal ties between Poland and Lithuania, two neighboring countries that are predominantly Catholic and have a common history.
Source:International Herald Tribune, www.iht.com

Poland's Lotos Group finds valuable Baltic Sea oil deposits

Poland's Lotos Group fuels company has discovered two oil deposits deep below the Baltic Sea floor totalling an estimated 16 million cubic meters, worth 8 billion dollars, Polish Radio reported Tuesday.

The company intends to begin extraction from the two deposits in 2008 and 2011, according to a company spokesman.

Lotos Group is majority-owned by the Polish State Treasury. Its PetroBaltic oil and gas exploration company made the discovery.

It comes at a time when Poland's state-owned refiners are looking for alternatives to Russian crude oil and natural gas supplies, upon which EU newcomer Poland remains heavily reliant.

The bid to diversify supplies is part of a drive by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) government to improve Poland's energy security.

Source:news.monstersandcritics.com,

LG to Open 2nd LCD Plant in Poland

LG Electronics, South Korea’s second-largest consumer electronics maker, said Tuesday it will launch the operations of its second liquid crystal display (LCD) TV plant in Poland later this month.

The plant located in the southern Polish city of Wrocław was projected to start operations in the first half of next year, but LG Electronics made the decision to move up the start date in order to meet rising demand from European countries, company officials said.

The company did not elaborate on the exact timetable.

LG Electronics runs an LCD TV plant in Mława, 130 kilometers north of Warsaw. With the second plant in Wrocław, LG Electronics said it will churn out a combined 6 million TV sets this year.

Europe accounts for around 40 percent of the world’s LCD TV market. LG Electronics aims to increase the sales from its Polish plants to $6.5 billion by 2010 from this year’s $2.5 billion.

To that end, the electronics giant plans to invest $130 million over the next three years to increase the production capacity of the two production facilities.

Source:

Poland's PM calls for support for national arms industry

Poland's arms industry needs at least 4 billion zlotys (about 1.3 billion U.S. dollars) worth of commissions annually to maintain its present production, Poland's Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said on Monday.

At the opening of the 14th International Defence Industry Salon in the southern city of Kielce, Kaczynski said, "Today's battlefield requires very advanced technology and this is a challenge for the human mind. This salon offers answers to this challenge, answers that are increasingly advanced and interesting."

"We want peace but today's complicated times force us to maintain readiness. I hope this salon contributes to this readiness," the PAP news agency quoted him as saying.

A total of 312 exhibitors from 23 countries are taking part in the Kielce fair.

Source:english.people.com.cn

Kazakhstan gas supplies to Poland via new pipeline unrealistic - Bartimpex tycoon Gudzowaty

Poland's plans to win US support for a pipeline from Kazakhstan are unrealistic, Aleksander Gudzowaty, Polish tycoon at the helm of conglomerate Bartimpex, told Interfax Tuesday."This is another virtual project," Gudzowaty said. "The project is very complicated as it passes sensitive regions. Besides that Poland isn't large receiver of natural gas - it needs some 15 bln cubic meters of natural gas annually and doesn't seem to need much more.

"There are simpler and cheaper solutions [to import natural gas]," he added. On Monday Polish daily Rzeczpospolita wrote that America could help Poland diversify gas supplies in exchange for permission to build anti-missile shield bases in Poland. The diversification could concern Poland's participation in a gas pipeline project transporting gas from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Western Europe.

For the last 15 years, the self-made billionaire and head of Bartimpex was the key middleman between Poland and Russia on Russian gas supply. He remains firmly in the Polish-Russian gas equation, owning 36% of Gaz Trading, which holds the 4% balance of power in Yamal gas pipeline operator, EuRoPol Gaz. Russia's Gazprom recently announced plans to put off extending the Yamal line in lieu of the new Baltic line, sparking a political row between Russia, Poland, Germany and the EU that is gaining pace.

Natural gas sector insiders told Interfax on Monday that the prospect of running an extension to a Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan gas pipeline to Poland may prove attractive, but it does not solve Poland's short- and medium-term problems with gas supplies.

They claim that realization of this project is so distant that Poland should reduce its activity in the project to monitoring it.
Source:

Ukraine wants closer partnership with Poland

"‘The new Ukrainian authorities are interested in continuing strategic partnership with Poland", declared Ukraine’s head of diplomacy Boris Tarasiuk.

The minister stressed that the reception he received during his recent trip to Poland indicates that both sides are eager to strengthen the partnership and make it more efficient. Poland fully supports Ukraine's NATO and UE aspirations.

The planned meeting of the two countries' prime ministers at the Economic Forum in Krynica, southern Poland, is expected to prepare ground for boosting economic cooperation and working out a common stance on energy security.

Source:

Poland to Overhaul Shipyard Strategy After EU Subsidy Rebuff

The Polish government said it will revise plans for restructuring its shipyards, seeking to save 16,000 jobs in the home of the Solidarity movement.

Under pressure from the European Commission, Poland said it will come up with a new strategy to rescue the three Baltic coast shipyards that doesn't violate European rules on government subsidies.

The Brussels-based commission, the European Union's executive agency, estimates that the yards received 1.6 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in unlawful government aid since 2003.

``The government has promised a change in its strategy for the shipyards,'' said Treasury Ministry spokeswoman Agnieszka Dluska in a phone interview. ``The final version will be sent to Brussels today.''

The commission will take several weeks to analyze Poland's plans, spokesman Jonathan Todd told a Brussels press conference. The commission could order the repayment of the aid if it determines that Poland broke EU subsidy rules.

Poland had faced a deadline of today to defend its shipyard policy.

Source:By Katya Andrusz , bloomberg.com

Poland selects Gemalto for 1.5m ePassport inlays

The Polish Printing State Agency (PWPW) has selected Gemalto to supply it with the inlays it needs to roll out electronic passports to Polish citizens. PWPW currently produces around 1.5 million passports each year.

In compliance with the European Union recommendations, Poland started issuing electronic passports for its citizens by the end of August 2006. A successful pilot phase including over 3 000 diplomatic e-passports took place earlier this year, confirming Gemalto as the main supplier for the global roll out handled by the Polish Ministry of Interior and Administration.

Gemalto said it began delivering its Setec e-passport solution in July.

Gemalto is experiencing a good level of success in the ePassport market, with references including the Czech Republic, France, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden and the United States of America.

To date, Gemalto claims it has enabled more than three million ePassports with its secured chip-based technology.
Source:www.securitydocumentworld.com

Poland scraps barriers for non-EU workers

Poland's labour ministry has scrapped a series of barriers on employing non-EU nationals in a bid to ease labour shortages reported in a number of sectors of the economy.

Under the new system, foreign language teachers, journalists and graduates of Polish medical schools, as well as company management board members and businessman temporarily delegated to Poland will no longer need work permits.

Seasonal farm workers from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus will also be exempt if they work for less than three months during a half-year period, although their employers will have to report they are in Poland.

"Polish farmers have signalled labour shortages. particularly in relation to seasonal work," the ministry said in a statement. "Scrapping the permit requirement should also limit illegal employment."

Poland's jobless rate is the highest in the European Union at just under 16 percent, but the exodus of tens of thousands of younger Poles to jobs in western Europe has sparked fears over shortages in particular sectors at home.

The ministry said the requirement to gain a permit -- which cost around 900 zlotys ($300) -- had also discouraged workers who would otherwise have been legally employed and registered.

Source:www.thisislondon.co.uk

Poland's FSO carmaker does booming business in Ukraine

Warsaw- Poland's once-troubled FSO carmaker is now in the pink thanks to booming exports of its Daewoo Lanos model to neighbouring Ukraine, Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported Thursday. Thanks to a 2002 deal with Ukraine's AvtoZAZ automotive giant, the FSO plant has bounced back from the verge of collapse after the bankruptcy five years ago of key investor, South Korea's Daewoo Motor.

FSO's Daewoo Lanos has become the top-selling model in Ukraine, taking nearly 35 per cent of the new car market.

The Warsaw-based plant's production has sky-rocketed. While 47,000 cars rolled off the assembly line in 2005, there were plans for up to 95,000 vehicles this year.

US auto giant General Motors is reported to be in talks with AvtoZaZ aimed at using the FSO plant to produce Chevrolet brand cars for export to Ukraine.

But it is up to the European Commission to rule whether the Polish government can inject subsidies to the partially state-owned FSO factory which would allow production to go ahead.

Poland was the largest of 10 mostly ex-communist states to have joined the European Union in May 2004. Non-EU Ukraine absorbed 3 per cent of Poland's total exports in 2005, according to Poland's Central Statistical Office (GUS).
Source:rawstory.com

Poland eases rules to fill jobs

Poland is easing restrictions on workers from Eastern Europe and Turkey to fill labour gaps, following massive Polish migration to Western Europe.

Under a new directive, Russian, Belarussian and Ukrainian farm workers will no longer require work permits for seasonal jobs of up to three months.

The rules for Turkish workers will also be relaxed.

Poland has had one of the highest unemployment rates in the European Union: 15.7%.

More than one million Poles have left to work in Western Europe, including an estimated 400,000 in Britain, where wages are much higher, since Poland became an EU member in 2004.

The directive, signed by the Polish Labour Ministry on Wednesday, is aimed especially at the fruit-picking sector.

"Farmers have indicated to us that there is a shortage of farm labour, especially for seasonal work," the ministry said in a statement, quoted by the AFP news agency.

The relaxation also covers foreign language teachers, business executives, media correspondents, researchers and employees transferred to Poland by their companies, who will not need to apply for work permits.

Turkish citizens who have lived in Poland for at least five years and legally worked there for four years will no longer have to renew their work permits.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Poland: Another non-event - rates remain on hold

The Polish central bank’s (NBP) Monetary Policy Council today ( 08/30/06) decided in favour of unchanged interest rates, keeping the key policy rate at 4.00% - a decision completely in line with our and the market’s expectations.

Unchanged rates should be seen against the backdrop of inflation remaining low, albeit edging up to 1.1% y/y in July. However, this is still below the central bank’s inflation target of 2½% +/-1%. Such a low level of inflation might perhaps argue in favour of further rate cuts, but we are quite sure the next rate change will be up rather than down, especially considering today’s Q2 GDP figures, which showed that GDP growth accelerated further, from 5.2% y/y in Q1 to 5.5% y/y in Q2, boosted by investments, which grew by 14.4%.

While inflation is low in Poland at the moment, today’s stronger GDP growth figure definitely suggests that inflationary pressures will build going forward. We therefore believe the NBP will adopt a more hawkish tone in the weeks ahead, and it is becoming increasingly likely that the central bank will hike its rates by the end of this year.

Danske Bank
Holmens Kanal 2-12, DK-1092 Copenhagen
http://www.danskebank.com/
Source:www.fxstreet.com

Poland's Economic Growth Speeds Up

Polish economic growth accelerated to an annual rate of 5.5 percent in the second quarter, the government said Wednesday, a boost for its battle against unemployment.

The expansion of gross domestic product picked up from 5.2 percent in the first quarter to 5.5 percent in the April-June period, the Central Statistical Office said.

In more good news for Poland's economy, the central bank announced Wednesday it was holding its benchmark interest rate at 4 percent, an all-time low.

Inflation is running at just 1.1 percent, giving the bank little reason to raise its rates.

Poland has been struggling to bring down the highest unemployment rate in the European Union. Still, the 15.7 percent rate for July was a five-year low, down from a peak of 20.7 percent in February 2003.

Figures from the statistics office showed a strong rise in fixed investments. Household consumption, however, slowed in the second quarter.

Many foreign firms have invested in Poland since the ex-communist country joined the EU in 2004, drawn by a skilled work force and labor costs that are low compared with Western Europe.

Source:www.chron.com

IKEA to build new furniture market in Poland

Swedish IKEA is to invest some 260 million zlotys (84.4 million U.S. dollars) to build a new furniture store and a commercial park in Lodz in central Poland the PAP news agency reported on Monday.

The investment is to be ready at the end of September 2008. The commercial park is to employ some 1,200 persons. Additional 2,000 people will find jobs in companies cooperating with IKEA.

Wojciech Dzwonkowski, investment director of IKEA Center Poland said Monday that the new store is to have 28 thousand square meters.

The Łódź project will be IKEA's eighth furniture store in Poland. Up to 2004 the Swedish concern has invested 2.5 billion zlotys in Poland.

Source: Xinhua

IGPL eyes buyouts in Poland, Romania, Italy

I G Petrochemicals Ltd (IGPL), the third-largest producer of phthalic anhydride (PAN) in the world, is looking for acquisitions abroad.

Nikunj Dhanuka, managing director, IGPL, told DNA Money, “As our business is growing, we have to go for acquisitions to further increase our capacity.” The company is looking for suitable firms in Poland, Romania and Italy, he said, but declined to divulge further details.

On funding the acquisitions, Dhanuka said, selling equity stake was an option, “if we find the appropriate overseas company.”

PAN is widely used to manufacture products essential for the production of plastic, flexible PVC, varnish, paint, textile dyes, and pesticides.

IGPL is looking to scale up within the country, too, and is in talks with Asian Paints for its PAN plant in Ankleswar (Gujarat). “We have approached Asian Paints for their 18,000 tonne Ankleswar plant, but still not decided due to higher price. We are looking into overseas markets for acquisitions as IGPL exports about 75% of its products,” said Dhanuka.

Market sources said Asian Paints has quoted a price of Rs 200 crore for the facility.

IGPL has a production capacity of 1.1 lakh tonnes of PAN per annum in its manufacturing unit at Taloja, Maharashtra. Its main customers in the international market are Exxon Mobil, BASF, SABIC and ELF.

BSF of Germany and Aekyoung of Korea are the leading global players in PAN. Among its local competitors are Thirumalai Chemicals and Herdillia Chemicals, whose combined capacity is less than that of IGPL, and Asian Paints, which produces for captive consumption.

IGPL had incurred severe losses due to recessionary market conditions between 1998 and 2001, with the debt burden touching Rs 700 crore. However, it has since brought this down to a secured liability of Rs 125 crore, with UK-based international fund Spinnaker Capital investing Rs 125 crore in April this year.

The company expects to touch the Rs 500-crore turnover mark this fiscal.

Source:www.dnaindia.com

Jeronimo Martins launches its drugstore network in Poland

The drugstore network owned by Portuguese Jeronimo Martins will be called Bliska Apteka. The first four outlets will be launched in Warsaw and Łódź.

Jeronimo Martins, the owner of discount supermarkets, is going to launch its drugstore chain soon. In June, the company registered Bliska Apteka firm. The founding capital amounts to PLN 250,000 (EUR 63,250). Yesterday, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) approved of the fact that 50 percent of Bliska Apteka is acquired by Farmindustria – Investimentos, Participacoes e Gestao, a company controlled by the Portuguese association of drugstore owners. The talks between Jeronimo and the association have been going on for two years.

There are 830 Biedronka supermarkets in Poland. A drugstore could be located in each of them. However, the majority of the supermarkets do not have enough space. In others, there are already private owners running their drugstores. According to “Puls Biznesu” sources, a pilot program will be launched in upcoming weeks. Two outlets will be launched in Warsaw and two in Łódż.

(PLN 1 = EUR 0.253)

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Poland Won't Set Euro Entry Date, Needs More Time, Kluza Says

Poland, the only new European Union member never to have set a date for adopting the euro, needs more time to trim its $10 billion deficit before deciding when it will do so, Finance Minister Stanislaw Kluza said.

To join the euro area, the 10 nations that joined the European Union in 2004 need to trim shortfalls to within 3 percent of gross domestic product and keep debts and inflation in check. Poland meets the debt and inflation rules, while the deficit is forecast at 4.6 percent of GDP this year, according to EU rules.

Poland is trying to avoid the disappointment that has dogged Hungary and the former Soviet states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, who were forced to abandon their original quests for the common currency because of faster-than-expected inflation.

``Talking about dates for euro adoption is absolutely senseless,'' Kluza said in an Aug. 24 interview in Warsaw. ``The case of Hungary is the best proof of this: setting a date and then postponing it can have a far more negative impact on the market than refraining from fixing the date in the first place.''

Successive Polish governments have said EU methodology distorts the size of the deficit as it won't allow payments to private pension funds to be classified as state revenue beginning in April. Excluding the funds from revenue will add about 1.9 percentage points to the deficit, according to government calculations.

Lower Debt, Deficit

Still, the public debt level, set at 52.9 percent to GDP in this year's budget, may be lower by as much as 2 percentage points, Kluza said. The Finance Ministry forecasts that investment will be around 10 percent this year and sees investment in the range of between 10 and 15 percent next year, making it the main engine of GDP growth in 2007.

Kluza said that growth in the $318 billion economy should reach at least 5 percent this year on high industrial output, retail sales and investments, which will boost budget revenue and may mean this year's gap is ``slightly lower'' than the planned 30.5 billion zloty.

The deficit may be between 1 percent and 4 percentage points lower than planned, he said. Precise estimates are not yet possible because the Finance Ministry does not yet know how much it will have to spend on compensation to farmers for a drought this year that ruined harvests. Additional spending on excise tax for cars and value-added tax returns on building materials are also not calculated.

Investment Ready

``Poland is in a good position to attract investment now, considering how good the fundamentals of the Polish economy are,'' Kluza said.

Hungary is under pressure to trim its deficit, the largest in the EU compared with the size of the economy, from the EU and dropped its 2010 target date and refused to include a new official date in its draft convergence plan being presented to the EU. Finance Minister Janos Veres says the government probably won't drop the forint until 2011 at the earliest.

The EU this year rejected a bid from Lithuania, the largest Baltic country, to adopt the euro on Jan. 1. Estonia, which also wanted to adopt at the beginning of next year, pulled out after soaring economic growth pushed inflation beyond the limits. Latvia postponed its Jan. 1, 2008, start date for the same reason.

Kluza, 34, who became finance minister in July, said Poland won't fall into the same trap, and wants to put off EU demands it meet the deficit requirement as early as next year.

``We will seek to convince the EU about the advantages -- social and economic -- of reducing the budget deficit to 3 percent of GDP more slowly than the EU had requested,'' said Kluza. ``A gradual reduction will, we hope, show the progress we have made.''

Central Bank

Kluza's gradual approach to the switchover contrasts that of central bank Governor Leszek Balcerowicz, who argues that it is in Poland's interest to meet euro-adoption criteria as soon as possible to shore up its credibility and make necessary public finance reforms without delay.

The government will seek EU approval for allowing the country extra time to reduce the deficit to the 3 percent of GDP limit.

``Prudence in planning the budget should be one of our chief arguments in our talks with the European Union, as we are facing the threat of an excessive deficit procedure,'' he said.

Source: ByKatya Andrusz and Dorota Bartyzel,

EU Warns Poland on Shipyard Subsidies

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - European Union regulators warned Monday that three Polish shipyards risk losing state subsidies unless the Polish government provides more information to prove that the aid is legal.

Polish authorities have until the end of August to send "satisfactory restructuring plans" for the Gdynia, Gdansk and Szczecin shipyards, said Jonathan Todd, an EU spokesman.

Without this information, regulators may determine that government and local support given to restructure the yards since 2002 contradict EU rules, Todd said. The rules prohibit governments from granting money to shore up businesses that would otherwise fail.

"The Commission doesn't gladly shut down shipyards," said Todd. "We would, of course, like to be able to approve this aid but in the present circumstances, we would be unable to do so."

The EU must check that state subsidies do not give companies an unfair advantage over rivals. It can allow state aid in certain circumstances -- such as a one-off cash injection to turn around a troubled firm -- but it does not allow governments to pay a firm's running costs.

Todd said the Commission was still trying to determine the amount of government money at stake. Earlier estimates have put the state aid at euro593 million (US$731 million).

The EU said it wants to make sure that state subsidies would not be used to keep the shipyards afloat artificially but could approve a rescue plan to restore them to commercial viability.

It usually demands that businesses pay back illegal aid already granted. Money given before Poland joined the EU in May 2004 is exempted from the EU probe.

One of the shipyards, in Gdansk, is famous for the large strikes in 1980 that led to the formation of the Solidarity movement, which helped topple Communist rule in Poland.

A total of 12,000 people now work in the three shipyards.

Source:news.moneycentral.msn.com

Dell picks Poland for new plant -paper

Dell Inc., the world's largest personal computer maker, will invest 120 million euros ($153.3 million) in a new plant in Poland's second-largest city Łódź, daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported on Monday(28/08/06). Citing unnamed sources, Wyborcza said the company had picked Poland over Slovakia for the plant. It said that together with subcontractors the investment would generate 12,000 new jobs.

The company was not immediately available for comment.

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Poland announces foreign aid spending

Poland has assigned 85 mln zloty or almost 22 mln euros for international development aid. Most of the funds will go to Ukraine and Belarus, Poland’s eastern neighbors.

It’s the first time Poland out aside such a big sum of money in the history of its foreign policy. The problem at the beginning was that the government couldn’t come to an agreement whether the money should be allocated for the former Soviet Republics, the Balkans or Third World countries. Eventually 70% of the aid will go to Poland’s eastern neighbors Ukraine and Belarus and other former Soviet Republics like Georgia, Moldavia or Tajikistan, which is explained by Poland’s geopolitical position and is in line with the country’s foreign policy, says Jan Szczyciński of the United Nations House in Warsaw:

Some 30mln zloty or nigh on 8 mln euros fell to Polish NGOs, which presented a number of projects in the grant competition recently launched by Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, explains Justyna Janiszewska of the Foreign Group – an association of Polish NGOs:

The grant competition, even though for a record sum of money, was announced much later this year than in previous years. Now, NGOs are worried they may not have time to make the right use of the money assigned. Once they sign the contracts and receive the grants there will be only 3 and half months left to spend the money. Justyna Janiszewska, hopes for much quicker action on the side of the government in the future:

As a matter of fact Poland is among the countries, which are beneficiaries of foreign aid from other countries. So, even though it’s in the group of the world’s 40 richest countries, many are asking how it can afford subsidizing other poorer countries. Jan Szczycinski of UNH again:

According to the international commitment the amount of money Poland assigns for international development aid rises every year. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the 85 mln zloty will grow by a few hundred thousand in the near future.

Source: By Iwona Lejman

Russia wants to ban more food imports from Poland?

"Russia plans to extend its embargo on Polish food products", informed agriculture minister Andrzej Lepper.

Referring to a letter sent to the Polish chief veterinarian by the Russian side, Moscow wants to ban the imports of dairy products from Poland. Since autumn last year the Russian food market has been closed to Polish meat and plant products.

The agriculture minister said that his efforts to reach a compromise over the exports of Polish food to Russia may be hampered by the recent statement of deputy defence minister Antoni Macierewicz, in which he accused a group of former Polish foreign ministers of being Soviet spies.

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P&G opens a plant in Poland

P&G company confirmed that a new Gilette plant was opened last month in Łódź city, Poland. The plant is already prepared for working in the full operation mode. The plant will manufacture razors and blades and also produce packages and realize products storage.

Construction of the plant cost the company 120 mln. euros and it was supported by the government of Poland in the framework of the foreign business attraction policy. The plant takes up over 92000 square meters being the largest Gillette plant in the world, it will manufacture 1.5 billion pieces of products for export all over the world annually. By the end of the year about two thousand people will be working there, thus, the plant will become one of the biggest employers of Lodz city. Presently the unemployment rate in Poland is one of the highest ones in Europe: over 15 %.

Apart from the recently opened one P&G owns one more plant in Poland that is located in Warsaw. It manufactures Pampers diapers. It is the third largest diaper manufacturing plant of P&G with 600 employees. To date many cosmetics companies and cosmetics package manufacturers including Rexam and Polimoon establish production in Poland.

Source:www.cosmeticsinrussia.com

Poland's Prokom confirms purchase of Kazakhstan oil fields, despite denials by the country

Poland's Prokom Investments Friday (25/08/06/) re-confirmed the acquisition of stakes in four companies licensed for oil exploration and extraction in Kazakhstan, despite repeated denials by that country's energy and mineral resources ministry.

"In response to the Kazakhstani ministry's statements, we confirm the fact of the acquisition by our subsidiary of shares in companies licensed for oil extraction and exploration in Kazakhstan," Prokom Investments spokesman Marek Zieleniewski told Interfax. "The payments have been made. We are at present finalizing the legal aspects of the transactions."

Petrolinvest, controlled by Polish tycoon Ryszard Krauze through Prokom Investments, paid USD 400 mln for 50% stakes in three companies and a 35% stake in a fourth, all holding licenses to oil fields with combined reserves of 2 bln barrels, Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported on August 12.
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Singapore, Poland team up in technology projects

Singapore- Singapore and Poland are undertaking science and technology projects ranging from developing materials for low-cost LCD displays to alternative desalination methods, both countries said Thursday. Eight projects are jointly funded by Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research and Poland's Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

Singapore and Poland have each committed about 6.6 million Singapore dollars (4.2 million US dollars) to the projects over a three-year period, a statement from the agencies said.

Source:rawstory.com

European clothes producers attack Poland

New clothes companies come to Poland from Greece, Italy and the East. They’ll face fierce competition of the national clothes producers.

New clothes shops have appeared in Poland recently including Italian Vento Milano, Greek Esthis and Eastern European Sela.

The first company is being introduced by Kubex. There is one shop operating, seven others will be launched this year.

“We will have 50 outlets till the end of next year, including our own ones, franchises and stands”, Wioletta Kogut, Kubex CEO said.

Vento Milano offers clothes for women aged 20-70 years. They are designed in Italy and sawn in Turkey.

Esthis is developing its own outlets. Today it has two of them, further nine will appear this year.

“We want to have 20 shops till the end of 2007”, Cezary Poltorak responsible for Esthis retail network in Poland said. The clothes are mainly produced in Bulgaria. They are directed to women aged 27-45 years. The company believes that its main rivals in Poland include Solar or Simple. The distance is very big, however. Solar has 60 shops while Simple has 20.

In July, Sela, the distributor of clothes for teenagers appeared in Poland. Sela’s capital comes from several Eastern European countries including Ukraine, Russia, Kazachstan, Latvia and Lithuania. It has one shop and plans to have five of them this year.

“We want to saturate the Polish market with 100 shops. Ten of them will be our own shops, the rest will operate with our license”, Ernest Wozniak from Sela said.

The clothes are produced in Hong Kong.

“Our shops will compete with Polish Reserved. We have the same target group”, Ernest Wozniak believed.

However, Reserved is a well-known brand. The company has 91 shops in Poland.

Rivals do not fear the new competitors.

“The Polish market is not as competitive as Western European ones. But it will be difficult for a new brand to build a big distribution network which would provide the scale effect. The majority of foreign brands are already present in Poland. Some of them, including Zara or Orsay, have been successful, others failed to fit the Polish market”, Grzegorz Koterwa, Artman member of the board commented.
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Poland's Lotos President Sees Oil Output Above 1 Million Tons By 2012

Grupa Lotos (LTS.WA) President Pawel Olechnowicz Thursday (24/08/06) said that by 2012 the company's refinery will be processing more than 1 million metric tons of crude extracted by Lotos itself, up from 0.3 million tons at present.
Lotos' medium-sized refinery in Gdansk has a capacity to process 6 million tons of crude per year, making it Poland's second-largest refiner.
Of this total, only about 0.3 million tons of crude annually has been extracted by Lotos' own oil-extracting arm, Perobaltic. The bulk of the refinery's crude supply is imported from Russia.
Olechnowicz's comments, in a broadcast on Poland's TVN24 news channel, followed a statement from Lotos earlier Thursday in which the company said Petrobaltic has discovered two new oil deposits in the Baltic Sea, containing an estimated 16 million cubic meters of crude.
The smaller deposit lies 68 kilometers from the Polish coast and contains 1 million cubic meters of crude. Extraction from this field is due to start in 2008.
Oil from the larger deposit, which contains 15 million cubic meters of crude and lies 135 kilometers from the port of Gdansk, will start being pumped after 2010, Lotos said.
Source:easybourse.com

Jobless Rate Dips To 15.7 Per Cent In Poland

Unemployment in Poland dipped to 15.7 per cent in July, from 16 per cent the previous month and from nearly 18 per cent in July 2005, the Central Statistical Office (GUS) said Thursday.

The percentage translated into 2.44 million Poles out of work in July.

The drop in unemployment comes as the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy reported some 660,000 Poles had gone to work in other European Union states since Poland joined the EU in May, 2004.

According to the ministry, a majority of those - some 322,000 - went to work in Germany, while the rest sought employment in Britain, Ireland and Italy.

Unofficial estimates by various Polish media put the figure of job migrants from Poland at over a million. The exodus of skilled labour is hitting the country's construction sector particularly hard.

The Labour Ministry expects unemployment to drop to around 15 per cent by the end of 2006
Source: www.playfuls.com/

Poland’s cosmetics market to grow 3.5% to PLN 9 bln in 2006.

Poland's cosmetics and perfumes market grew by 3.1% in 2005 to reach 8.7 billion Polish Zlotys (EUR 2.23 billion) in 2005, research company PMR revealed in a report on non-food retail*.

According to PMR, Poland's cosmetics market growth will carry on by 3.5% in 2006 to reach PLN 9 billion (EUR 2.3 billion). The retail market growth might be even stronger in 2007 (4 - 5%), provided that the Polish government lifts the excise tax on cosmetics. “Poland is the only country in Europe still enforcing an excise tax on cosmetics, which current rate is at 10%,” the company said in a release. “This contributes to the situation in which prices of cosmetics, primarily in the luxury segment, are 10-20% higher than on other Western European markets.” According to Patrycja Ciosek, PMR analyst and co-author the report, should the government eventually scrap the excise tax, as expected in January 2007, prices of cosmetics would be pushed down and the volume and value of sales increase subsequently.
Source:www.beauty-on-line.com

Sabic Poland hub

Sabic-Europe is expanding its polymer supply network in Central Eastern Europe by opening a logistics hub in Poland, Asharq Alawsat reports. It's expected to be operational from January 2007. Sabic also opened a sales office in Hungary in May as part of its East European expansion strategy.

Source:ameinfo.com

Poland's Netia selects Alvarion's broadband solution

Alvarion Ltd., a provider of wireless broadband solutions and specialized mobile networks, announced on Tuesday that Netia, a leading competitive Polish telecommunications provider, has selected its BreezeMAX 3600 for a 20 city WiMAX deployment in Poland.

An extension of Alvarion's market leading BreezeMAX solution operating from 3.6 to 3.8 GHz, the BreezeMAX 3600 is targeted at WiMAX operators

in Europe and other countries where that frequency is available and enables carriers to offer broadband data, voice, and multimedia services with high performance over wide coverage areas.

As a customer of Alvarion's MGW solution for multi-residential voice and data services, Netia began this WiMAX deployment in 20 additional cities upon receiving the nationwide license. Netia is one of four Polish carriers who received the nationwide WiMAX license.

“Netia is an excellent example of a carrier who plans to use WiMAX aggressively to expand its service offerings and penetrate various new markets for increased revenues," commented Tzvika Friedman, president and CEO of Alvarion.

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Fourth EGOV conference, Poland

The fourth EGOV conference, designed to assess the state of the art in e-government and e-governance, will take place in Krakow, Poland, from 4 to 8 September.

The event is intended to provide guidance for research and development in this field, and will bring together researchers and professionals from across the globe working in various disciplines. A call for research papers for the conference is currently open, with a first deadline of 15 February.

For further information, please consult the following web address:
http://www.uni-koblenz.de/FB4/Institutes/IWVI/AGVInf/Conferences/egov2006

Source: cordis.europa.eu

POLAND: Ambra revises 2006 figures forecast

Ambra has raised its profit forecast for its full year.

The Polish wine maker and distributor yesterday (21 August) lifted its net profit forecast for the fiscal 2005/2006 to 30 June to PLM21m (US$6.9m) from an earlier forecast of PLN20m. Ambra warned, however, that its operating profit for the year will come in closer to PLN33m than the previously predicted PLN40m. The company blamed the potential slide on higher projected operating costs and the adoption of International Accounting Standards.

In revenue terms, Ambra said that figures were more likely to reach PLN430m as opposed to the earlier forecast of PLN440m.

In the year to 30 June 2005, the company saw net profit reach PLN15.6m on sales of PLN371m.

Ambra, which also has a presence in Slovakia and Romania, is the leading producer of sparkling wines, table wines, vermouth, cocktails and non-alcoholic sparkling juices in Poland and Eastern Europe.

Source:www.just-drinks.com

Poland wants to export meat to Ukraine

Ukraine and Poland considered lifting of Ukraine's ban on import of Polish meat to Ukraine as an urgent issue, Polish Vice Prime Minister, Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development Andrzej Lepper told a Monday news briefing at the Polish Embassy in Ukraine.

According to him, a meeting with Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Rybak on Monday dealt with this issue and the parties agreed upon staging bipartite meetings to this effect, Cabinet's press office reported.

The Polish Minister said that shortly a resolution by the Polish Government is taking effect on the order and rules of official employment of Ukrainian citizens in Poland, upon the list of 27 professions.

Source: en.for-ua.com