Rudolf Thaler, Commercial Counselor at the Austrian Embassy, talks to Ewa Hancock.

Ten days before Poland joins the EU you are organizing a conference called Austria Welcomes Poland. Who will participate, and what do you aim to achieve?
Actually it's more a welcome party, a symbolic gesture: Austria, Austrians, the Austrian business community is welcoming Poland, Poles and the Polish business community to the EU. It's a tradition to welcome a new family member and to celebrate this. We chose April 21, ten days before the accession, to celebrate this event at the Royal Castle with a concert and a reception. It's a great honor that this event is under the patronage of President Aleksander Kwaśniewski.

It's a welcoming gesture that comes from the heart. Austrian and Polish artists will play Chopin, Schubert, Wieniawski, Maklakiewicz, Stolz and Noskowski. Austrian and Polish food will be served. An Austrian cook will keep a close watch on the apfelstrudel preparation and make sure it is authentically Austrian.

The host of the event is the Austrian Chamber of Commerce together with the Austrian Ministry of Economy and Labor.

To underline this symbolic welcoming gesture we present a virtual bouquet of flowers in the form of a fireworks display accompanied by the music of Johann Strauss. Especially for this event we also created a symbolic gesture to the Polish business community. We will present a booklet Austria-Twój Partner. Austriackie firmy w Polsce which presents over 200 Austrian companies located in Poland. It shows the wide variety of Austrian business activities in Poland. In many sectors like construction and banking, Austrian companies played a role as investing pioneer. Raiffeisen Bank was the first foreign bank to receive a banking license in Poland. The LIM Center was the starting point for the construction boom in Warsaw. The booklet is seen as a virtual welcome present and an invitation to intensify cooperation. It gives an opportunity for networking and a platform for communicating with interesting partners. The booklet is in Polish and gives an overview of the activities of Austrian companies and their representatives in Poland. The Polish business community is welcome to contact us and to receive a copy of the booklet free of charge.

What programs do you organize to encourage Austrian companies to invest here?
Informing Austrian companies about Poland, the legal and entrepreneurial framework and the huge possibilities and chances in Poland is crucial. In January the Austrian Chamber of Commerce hosted a Poland Conference. More than 350 companies took part and underlined the huge interest in the Polish market. On a regular basis I give lectures in Austria about the attractiveness of Poland as business partner. Over the past three weeks I toured the nine provinces of Austria and had meetings with approximately 150 companies interested in the Polish market. You see, there is a lot of interest in doing business with Polish partners. Our first aim is to bring partners together. Investing is finally the outcome of good business relations, knowledge of the market and perspective on future growth.

Additionally we invite companies to take part in economic missions and trade fairs, to give them a first-hand look. This year we will organize our traditional economic mission in Warsaw and Cracow. An Austrian stand will be present at the IFE fair in Warsaw and Poleko in Poznań. The Commercial Counsellor's Office will present packaging companies at the Taropak Fair in Poznań.

Even more projects are in the works to promote business.

In what sectors do you predict investment growth after Poland's EU accession?
In general the EU accession will boost trade and investment in the long run. Interesting sectors are the environment, infrastructure, logistics, automotive industry, packaging... just to name a few.

In your experience, how satisfied are Austrian businesses with Poland?
Austrian companies feel good in Poland. In our booklet Austria-Twój Partner. Austriackie firmy w Polsce we present over 200 companies operating in different sectors and regions in Poland. Companies already doing business here are reinvesting their profits and many companies especially small and medium-sized ones, are looking for partners, but unfortunately this is not reflected in official investment statistics. The total Austrian investment during the first half of 2002 was $1.3 billion and was reported as approximately $800 million. And in the first half of 2003 we reached $1 billion. Unfortunately, the statistics prepared by the investment of Bank Austria Creditanstalt don't recognize all of this. Only investments over $1 million are counted. But the Austrian economy is mainly based on very dynamic, innovative small and medium-sized companies. They start with investments below this level and increase them according to market needs, but these figures are not shown in the statistics.

I'm very happy that Austria was ranked number three among investors in Poland in the first half 2003 which emphasizes the positive assessment of the Polish market by Austrian companies.