Spotlight: Belt and Road initiative opportunity to enhance Polish-Chinese cooperation: expert

"I wish that the 'Belt and Road' initiative can take advantage of Polish hospitality and settle in our country, making Poland its European transport hub and the main port for Chinese investment in the region," Krzysztof Senger, Executive Vice-President of Polish Investment and Trade Agency told Xinhua here in an interview.

Presenting the potential of the Belt and Road initiative from the Polish point of view, Senger said that Poland is keenly watching the development of this ambitious initiative proposed by China.

This initiative can also be viewed from a wider Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region's perspective -- it can serve as "the strongest stimulus" that strengthens relations with China, Senger said.

The initiative will involve huge resources and last a long time, which can also be beneficial for regions in Poland, where many projects are being developed on the basis of logistics and infrastructure, Senger explained.

The initiative may cover a large part of the world, including its more remote places, in which Polish entrepreneurs are becoming more and more interested. Therefore, it gives a sense of commitment to a stable, long-term, interesting prospects for Poland and the whole CEE region, according to Senger.

While talking with representatives of companies and administrations of Polish cities and regions, Senger said, "We see their growing awareness that participation in international projects developed within the 'Belt and Road' framework will not only bring new contracts, but also allow to enter new markets and gain a wide circle of new partners around the world."

Senger said he believes that Polish-Chinese relations have never been better -- based on good relations and mutual trust. "Such relations are a great basis for developing mutual investments, improving trade relations and creating a strong partnership in this part of Europe," he said. Poland, as the biggest CEE region country, is active both as a 16+1 member and an AIIB founding member from the CEE region.

Poland perceives the cooperation under Belt and Road initiative as the pillar and the starting point for this partnership strategy and counts on private-public partnership or the creation of consortia with the Chinese in various international projects, according to Senger.

"We hope that thanks to such cooperation, Poland can quickly become the logistic center of Europe," Senger added. "We also hope that China will see the potential Poland has as an investment attractiveness leader of the CEE region, and boldly implement various greenfield projects here."

"We count on investments in the food sector," he said. "Chinese people are buying more and more imported food every year, while Poland is famous for high quality food products."

Senger said Chinese investors could take advantage of the expertise of Poland's food market experts and sell the quality food products worldwide, thanks to the development of the New Silk Road connection network.

Both China and Poland are in the process of changing their economies to more initiative and trying to achieve sustainable development, he noted. The Belt and Road initiative is one of the tools to search for new technologies and cooperate in research fields, including joint development of green and modern energy sector. "Thanks to many similarities, it is easier for us to communicate and to achieve synergies on many levels of mutual cooperation," Senger said.

He also expressed hope that the Belt and Road initiative would become a platform to promote Poland and Polish know-how in Asia.

According to Senger, Polish Investment and Trade Agency is assisting the Chinese companies interested in investing in Poland. Currently, the Agency is leading six Chinese projects worth a total of 409 million euros, he said. Poland is the largest recipient of Chinese investments among the Visegrad Group countries. Endit