The value of trade between Ireland and Poland has grown enormously in recent years, from £12.7 million in 1989 to £135.7 million in 1997. According to Declan Ryan, manager of Enterprise Ireland's Warsaw office, while this is modest in the context of Ireland's total exports, the potential for even greater growth is obvious. Ireland still accounts for less than 1 per cent of Poland's imports in any of our main product areas, he says, namely engineered goods, chemicals, hardware and software. Trade from Ireland has been greatly enhanced by the fact that several Irish-based freight forwarding companies now offer regular full and partial-load deliveries to Poland. Flowing in the opposite direction, imports from Poland to Ireland are also growing. Last year saw such trade rise by 10 per cent to $71 million, according to Polish embassy figures. Coal constitutes the vast bulk of Irish imports from Poland, however sugar, tractors, electric machinery, tools and cars are all making inroads into its dominion.
According to Declan Ryan there are a number of reasons why Poland offers exciting prospects for Irish exporters. These include Poland's strategic geographic location between east and west; its stated intention to develop as a hub for further trade to the east; its 38 million, highly educated population and its long history of industrialisation. The fact that a Westerly outlook prevails on the cultural front, allied to a pragmatic attitude to economic development is also attractive.
That Polish living standards are still well below European averages offers market potential for exporters and lower labour costs for investment ventures. There are a number of growth areas currently offering particular potential for Irish companies looking to invest abroad. These include computer software and hardware; building and construction; pharmaceuticals; banking and financial services; consultancy services; consumer goods and textiles. Enterprise Ireland, as the Irish Trade Board, has been represented in Poland since 1989. "Poland is one market where it is fair to say that `if you don't go, you won't know'," says Declan Ryan.
There are, of course, problems to overcome. These include a bureaucracy which Mr Ryan characterises as excessive by Irish standards and the obvious language barrier.
THROUGH a variety of interests and acquisitions, Irish cement company CRH currently employs over 1,500 people in Poland. "We don't perceive there to be any significant cultural difficulties at all," says Declan Doyle of CRH.
The way in which its economy is being managed is also helpful, he feels. "Since they made the transition from planned to free market economy in 1991 they have managed economic and social dimensions in parallel on a step-by-step basis. They have reduced inflation and controlled unemployment incrementally without the massive shocks that have been experienced in other countries."
According to Zdzislaw Bak of the commercial office of the Polish embassy in Dublin, the Polish economy has remained strong despite the travails currently affecting its second greatest trading partner - Russia. This he attributes to the judicious fiscal policies of Finance Minister Balcerowicz.
Also holding the office of deputy prime minister as leader of the second party in a coalition government, Minister Balcerowicz was formerly a professor at the Polish Academy of Foreign Trade. The other factor which favours Irish-Polish trade is more cultural than economic, he says: "Irish people and Poles share a similar mentality."
