On Friday 20 May, experts from Poland and China met at the Europe-China Economy Cooperation Forum in Katowice, southern Poland to discuss Poland's role within the Belt and Road initiative. The forum consisted of two parts, first of which was aimed at "Belt and Road" projects and analyzed the initiative's influence on transport, logistics and trade exchange of the countries along the route. The other part analyzed the practice of bilateral economy cooperation and looked for the means to make some improvements.
Slawomir Majman, President of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, underlined the recent frequent high-level visits to China, including Polish President Andrzej Duda, who's been to Beijing within the first 100 days since taking up the post. According to him, it is a good starting point to thinking over the relations between the two countries.
The experts discussed whether Poland, due to its geographical location and potential, could play the role of "gate to Europe" for China and how such a goal could be reached.
Recent plans to create a multimodal terminal reflect Poland's aspiration to not only be a place where cargo is reloaded, but also to export more Polish products to China, to ensure the cargo train is not going back empty. Cieslak informed that a new proposal of creating an industrial-technological park is aimed at bringing more Chinese investments into the region.
The second part of Forum gathered theoretical and practical experts of Chinese-Polish economy cooperation.
Li Yongping, President of Zhejiang Maylink Culture Development Company and Edward Zhu, vice-President of Polish Chinese Business Council, both underlined necessity to create Polish brand and increase the country's level of recognition in China.
In the Chinese experts' point of view, Polish fruit, vegetables and other agricultural products and local specialties might enjoy a huge interest on the Chinese market once they're acknowledged.
The best proof is the recent Sial Fairs in Shanghai, which observed a large group of Polish food industry manufacturers. However, lack of acknowledged Polish brands and the discrepancies between Poland's enterprises (majority of which are small and medium enterprises) in comparison to the Chinese market potential is another challenge to be faced.
