On March 13, European Business Club Poland hosted a meeting with Mr. Kjell Arne Nielsen, Commercial Counsellor of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway in Poland. Mr. Counsellor met with Polish entrepreneurs as a substitute for Ambassador Karsten Klepsvika who was forced to cancel his visit to our Club because of important emergency duties. The meeting was traditionally held in the hospitable Hotel – Restaurant “Black Cat – My Warsaw Residence” and gathered a large number of participants.
In his welcome speech President Janusz Cieslak reminded that Poland is the biggest beneficiary among the 15 countries of the European Union, which has been granted the Norwegian funds.
In 2006 – 2014 1.136 mln. euro has been allocated in our country. It was used for the economic, cultural and scientific development. The main idea of the allocation of funds by the Norwegian government is to reduce the economic disparities between the donor State and the Beneficiary State.
Mr. Kjell Arne Nielsen made an assessment of our political and economic cooperation. He stressed that trade is growing very rapidly, but there is still a possibility of its further growth. We are currently in 11th place among Norway’s trading partners. Export to Poland represents 1.6% of total Norwegian export and import from Poland represents 2.4% of total Norwegian import. Our country is one of the largest markets for Norwegian fishes. Most of the Norwegian fishes are processed in Poland and exported by Polish companies to other European countries. Defense industries co-operation between both countries is also going very well. Our companies – Lotos and PGNiG – have their own significant shares in investments at the Norwegian North Sea.
Among those present at the meeting was Mr. Marek Chojnacki, Pole running in Stavanger a medium-sized Polish construction company – NORPOLSA. He has especially arrived from Norway for this meeting. In Poland, there are registered more than 300 companies with Norwegian capital. They are in the vast majority small and medium-sized companies. There is more than 100 thousands of Poles living in Norway. In Poland, however, studies nearly 1400 young Norwegians, mainly in the fields of medicine.
After the onset, our guest complied interesting discussion lasting more than two hours. There were also established contacts, which should lead to increase in trade cooperation.