3 November 2009
Johannesburg — SOUTH African companies looking for a foothold in Europe could find opportunities in the list of 38 companies being prioritised by the Polish government for privatisation over the next three years.
Opportunities available include buying minority stakes in some of Poland's biggest energy generators; in PKO Bank Polski, which is one of two dominant banks in Poland; the remainder of the state's shares in Lubelski which is one of Poland's largest hard coal mines; mining machinery company Remag ; and stakes in various health resorts, which are an important part of the country's rapidly growing tourism industry.
Marcin Kubiak, who became Poland's ambassador to SA in January this year, said in an interview there was detailed information available about every company being privatised, including descriptions of their activities, employment, performance, privatisation advisers and the various procedures involved.
Privatisation was being done by way of public offerings on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, public tender by invitation to potential buyers, negotiations on the basis of a public invitation, sale of shares on a regulated market and various other mechanisms.
All procedures were being managed in line with the Commercialisation and Privatisation Act of December 2008 and they guaranteed clear and equal treatment of all parties involved.
One of the companies missing from the privatisation list is the state's 41% stake in copper producer KGHM.
Kubiak says the reason for its exclusion was the standpoint of the trade unions. "Trade unions are an important power in the sociopolitical scene in our country, which always is taken into consideration and put into the dialogue."
Kubiak said the Polish t reasury was regularly updating its website at www.msp.gov.pl and the Polish t rade and i nvestment office in Johannesburg also offered comprehensive information on the privatisation process.
Kubiak said there was considerable potential to expand economic co-operation between SA and Poland. "In my opinion the current trade turnover between our countries does not reflect the real potential of the economies of Poland and SA," he said.
Bilateral trade between the two countries was worth 1bn last year but he considered the potential was far closer to 3bn.
Poland was the only European Union economy with projected positive gross domestic product growth this year, at 1,9%.
The attractions of Poland for South African investors include its low labour cost and strategic location between western Europe and Russia. It has a large number of young, well-educated workers speaking foreign languages, with about 400000 university graduates each year.
Polish government policy extended various incentives and allowances to potential investors in Poland, he said. For selected major investments, terms could be negotiated individually with the Polish Foreign Information and Investment Agency.
Bilateral relations could be extended through more regular contact at various levels of government and business, he said. But even more important was for each country to make available more information about the other.
Few South Africans were aware that Poland was the largest country in central-eastern Europe with more than 38-million inhabitants of which 50% were below 35 , he said. There were 250-million potential customers within a 1000km radius in this part of Europe.
"We think that conclusion of new agreements between commercial chambers and promotional organisations of both countries may benefit the further improvement in this field.
"We have noticed with satisfaction that SA has allocated a diplomat to work at the South African e mbassy in Warsaw to take charge of the trade and economic relations, and hope this will help unleash our trade potential."
Outside trade engagements, Poland and SA have signed three bilateral agreements on education and technical co-operation: between the Polish Academy of Sciences and the National Research Foundation; between the two governments on technical, industrial and technological co-operation within the defence industry; and the last, in 1999, on co-operation in technology and science.
Since the 1999 agreement, SA and Poland have conducted 152 science projects, mostly in physics and chemistry. The most significant example of co-operation was Polish involvement in the construction and utilisation of the Southern African Large Telescope.
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