The Council of EU Chambers of Commerce in India mounted  Business Delegation toAmsterdam, Dusseldorf, Budapest and Warsaw from June 19 to 29 , 2018

Visited five Countries in ten days, Meetings in Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Budapest and Warsaw, Tremendous support for the meetings organized by Chambers of Commerce in various cities, Meetings with local government officials, Receptions by Indian Ambassador and First Secretary, 14 member delegation comprised from different sectors such as Automobile,  engineering, Pharma & Information Technology,  Delegates have fruitful meetings and some are in negotiation, Signing of MOU Hungarian Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Council of EU Chambers of Commerce in India

DELEGATION MEMBERS

Mr Ameet Nivsarkar, LEADER OF THE DELEGATION & Vice President, Corporate Affairs, TCS, Mr Sandesh Mainkar, Director, S K Consultants, Mr Deepak Shinde, Director, PROTO-D Engineering, Mr Pradip Lokhande, Director,PROTO-D Engineering, Mr Sumit Kumar Bagrecha,Director,PROTO-D Engineering, Mr AshwiniKumar Joshi,Director, Shaunak Engineering, Mr. Kishor Godse, Director ,Proto Technology Solutions,  Mr Naresh Kumar, Director, Naresh Enterprise, Mr Rajinder Kumar, General Manager, ,Naresh Enterprise, Mr Vivek Bhandari, General Manager. Bhumi International, Mr Harjot Kumar, CEO, Naresh Enterprise, Dr. Vandana Jolad Shivangi, Founder & MD,VIaTAL Pharma Consultancy, Dr .Renu Shome, Director, The Council of EU Chamber of Commerce in India

AMSTERDAM, JUNE 20, 2018

MEETING WITH AMSTERDAM INBUSINESS

The delegation was received by officials of the Amsterdam in Business. Ms. Jolanda van der Aart Head India Desk, Amsterdam in business organized the meeting during the visit of Indian companies. It was attended by Dutch companies from various sectors including consultants. Ms Jolanda welcomed the delegates and made presentation stating that as an official foreign investment agency of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (AMA), Amsterdam in business assists foreign companies with the establishment and expansion of their activities in the AMA.

Amsterdam Metropolitan Area is of 700 sq. miles with city size of 84 sq. miles, Population in city 823,000, Population in metro 2.3 million, foreign companies 2,700, No. jobs in foreign companies over 160,000, No. of expats in AMA 100,000.

She talked about the services of Amsterdam inbusiness such as introduction to Indian Companies and business networks, attracting and delivering value to international business, a single point of contact, Wide range of contacts in private and public sectors , support on recruitment, housing, legal, finance, support network of civic partners in the region and around the world ,full serviced programs for initial visits to evaluate and select locations, services and professional advisors, advice for company staff and their families, services are free of charge, confidential and without obligation, India Desk.

She said Indian imports from the Netherlands are Ores and metal, Primary plastics, Organic chemicals, Chemical products ,Transport equipment , Agri food whereas Indian exports to the Netherlands are Petroleum products, Apparel and clothing, Telecommunications, organic chemicals, Vehicles/Automotive.

There are around 200 Indian companies are currently active in The Netherlands, over half of which are established in the Amsterdam Area .The 100 companies that are located in the Amsterdam Area provide approximately 13,000 jobs . The number of Indian companies in The Netherlands has seen large and continuous growth and the majority of companies are in ICT, benefiting from the IT hubs in both India and Amsterdam. There are 200.000 persons of Indian origin, 10.000 Indian expats, fastest growing expat group in The Netherlands, mainly knowledge migrants with average income levels range between € 35,000 and € 70,000, over 75% of these professionals work for Fortune Global 500 companies.

Investment climate for Indian expats are as follows: Expatcenter Amsterdam,Events: Annual Cricket Event /Diwali Festival Amsterdam Area / Bollywood film festivals, Settling in: Bridging the Gap/ Dutch language courses, Service desk for Indian Expats at hospital Amstelland, Netherlands India Chamber of Commerce & Trade (NICCT),Netherlands India Business Meet, Company visits to further improve investment climate, Future developments: Indian bank, hotel, university

Dr Renu Shome presented the activities of EU Chambers and said the primary objective of the visit is to explore the business opportunities for its companies in this region by way of setting up office or having some partners for their business.

Each member introduced themselves and talked about their expectation. Ms Jolanda agreed to extend all possible support.

A team of Briddge Legal & Finance consisting of Bart Brinkman, Business Development Manager, Mr Marc Dunnewijk, Senior Partner and Mr Amrit Singh, Team Lead Tax made presentation on various aspects of Company formation and registration, Corporate Income Tax and Tax Planning, Value Added Tax, Accounting and financial reporting, Payroll, wage tax and social security and Residence permits for non-EU citizens

A team of emeago consisting of Mr Hans de Kruijs, Managing Partner and Mr Han Verbaas also made the presentation on their activities and talked about how they helped foreign companies to penetrate the market without any hassles in launching the base in Netherlands.

The meeting was followed by lunch hosted by Amsterdam in business where they invited many more local Dutch companies. Thereafter Indian delegates had B2B meetings.

EINDHOVEN, JUNE 21, 2018

MEETING WITH BRABANT DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (BOM)

The Indian delegates were hosted by Brabant Development Agency (BOM) in Eindhoven. Mr Frits Hoeve talked about Brabant region. He said Brabant is the region where business and people grow as this is in the heart of Europe where diverse and talented people work, where your neighbours are global leaders (Tesla, Cocacola, Driscolls, Hollister, Solvay, Heineken, Cargill, Unilever, Philips, Panasonic etc.) in high tech, logistics, chemicals, life science and agrifood, where your partner is supporting you every step of the way to ensure a flawless experience.

He also said when it comes to business, Brabant has lot to offer. One can find easy access to 300 million Europeans within 500 Kms of Brabant central location. When it comes to setting up your HQ, sales and marketing, manufacturing, customer care or logistic the region offers affordable real estate, best-in-class infrastructure and a favorable tax regime to significantly lower your costs. Our ecosystems in high tech, logistic, chemicals, life science, aerospace and agrifood take your collaboration possibilities to a new dimension. Global industry leaders are interwoven with world renowned knowledge institutes and government.

BOM Foreign Investments is your partner every step of the way providing a comprehensive range of services and support to help you save time and money. A team of experts free of charge offers wide range of services on various issues such as building permits, finding new premises or site for development, understanding tax incentives or help with business development and networking. We have been doing this for 30 years and we look forward to sharing our experience with you.

VISIT TO AUTOMOTIVE CAMPUS

The visit was organized to Automotive Campus. Mr Pieter Rahusen welcomed the delegates to the campus and short tour was conducted at the campus. He said the vision of our campus is in everything we do, we aim to make a substantial contribution to the quality of life and work in green and mobility automotive solutions. Based on this, we develop a high-quality network organization. With a big focus on mobility solutions for people roads and vehicles. As an international hotspot creating an ecosystem for today and tomorrow, to make changes necessary in the automotive industry.

The Automotive Campus Foundation is a public-private development with participation of two public investors (City of Helmond and Province of North-Brabant) and two private investors (Hurks real-estate development and construction Van de Ven).

The Automotive Campus is growing and innovating and under constant development. In the coming years the campus will grow into a flourishing international hotspot (70-75 companies and 1,000 jobs). As from 2018 the realization of the central campus park structure and new infrastructure and entrances will be carried out.

The development of the campus is supported by AutomotiveNL, BOM and Brainport Development NFIA.

The Automotive Campus Shared Facilities provide high-tech automotive testing facilities and spaces for research, offices and workspace for a wide range – including SMB, knowledge institute and educational institutions – to make use of.

The facilities provide an impulse for the Dutch automotive sector and the Brainport region. These facilities were created by an alliance between Benteler Engineering Services, construction firm Van de Ven, TNO, TASS International and VDL. They received support from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Province of Noord-Brabant, SRE and the municipality of Helmond

MEDICAL ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGIES

The second visit organized was to Medical Robotic Technologies at Eindhoven. Dr Maarten Steinbuch, CEO of Medical Robotics welcomed the delegates and explained how they are developing robotic technology for medical applications, starting from research results at the Control Systems Technology group (CST), Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. At CST, focus is on robotic solutions for the care and the cure sector.

Medical Robotic Technologies focuses on the cure sector, continuing development of CST‘s research projects in close cooperation with experts in the field. Application examples are reconstructive micro-surgery, vitreo-retinal eye surgery and minimally invasive surgery in the abdomen and thorax.

HIGH TECH CAMPUS

The third visit was organized to High Tech Campus at Eindhoven. Mr Cees Admiraal, Business Development Director received the Indian delegates and short tour was conducted at the campus. He talked about the facilities at the campus. High Tech Campus Eindhoven is the smartest km² in The Netherlands with more than 160 companies and institutes, and some 11,000 researchers, developers and entrepreneurs working on developing future technologies and products. The Campus helps you accelerate your innovation by offering easy access to high tech facilities and international networks. Campus companies (a.o. Philips, NXP, IBM, Intel) strategically decide what knowledge, skills and R&D facilities they share in order to achieve faster, better and more customer-oriented innovation in the application fields Health, Energy and Smart Environments. Located at the heart of Brainport Campus companies are responsible for nearly 40% of all Dutch patent applications.

The tour ended with lunch hosted by the organizer.

JADS (JHERONIMUS ACADEMY OF DATA SCIENCE)

The fourth visit was at the JADS (Jheronimus Academy of Data Science). The delegates were welcomed by Mr Renato Calzone and Mr J H de Pont.

The Jheronimus Academy of Data Science is a unique concept in the Netherlands. At three different locations Data Science can be studied, researched and applied through Bachelor and Graduate programs, PDeng education, Data Science Centers and incorporation into existing ecosystems. With this unique cooperation we create a new knowledge infrastructure with which Noord-Brabant puts itself at the heart of the future.

The Jheronimus Academy of Data Science offers Data science research in three locations: Tilburg, Eindhoven and ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Our Data science Research programs enhance the relevance of academic research to business and society.

JADS offers great opportunities for organizations to become part of the data science ecosystem in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. The ecosystem of the Jheronimus Academy of Data Science (JADS) is growing rapidly. Not only in the number of partners, but also in the range of activities are we organizing together with our partners. Furthermore we give professionals the opportunity to get trained in data intelligence skills.

MEETING AT THE INDIAN EMBASSY IN HAGUE

The Indian Embassy organized a meeting in honour of visiting Indian delegation at the Embassy premises. Mrs Mrinalini Kaur Sapra, First secretary, Mr Ashok Kaushik, Marketing Officer and other colleagues were present at the meeting. She talked about the various opportunities in different sectors in Netherlands. The delegates introduced themselves and talked about their expectation for their business. First Secretary assured them to assist and requested them to write to her.  The meeting was followed by high tea.

DUSSELDORF, JUNE 22, 2018

MEETING AT CITY OF DUSSELDORF

The delegates were welcomed by the Ms Annette Klerks, Head of Department, International Business Services and Ms Bettina Lohr, Senior Project Manager, International Business Services City of Dusseldorf. She made the presentation highlighting following:

• Düsseldorf is one of the three largest regions for foreign direct investment in Europe. Ranking of European regions according to number of foreign direct investments 2016 is as Greater London(454).Paris – Ile de France (270),Düsseldorf region (160)
• Düsseldorf makes NRW (NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA) number 1 federal state for Foreign direct investments. Direct investments in Germany‘s federal states in billions of € is as NRW €147 billion, Baden-Württemberg €39 billion, Hamburg Lower Saxony €30 billion, Hesse €66 billion, Bavaria €97 billion, Berlin €21 billion, Lower Saxony €17 billion
• Düsseldorf is attractive for investors .139 countries invested in Düsseldorf
• Düsseldorf central location- easy access
• Düsseldorf is a powerful economic region in Europe-within one hour 11.4 m inhabitant, 503,000 companies, within one hour flight- Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Hamburg, London. Paris, Zurich and Luxembourg

State capital of Düsseldorf and the Metropolitan region of the Rhineland – Largest economic centre in Germany as follows:

DÜSSELDORF/RHINELAND Inhabitants 8.6 m, Employees 4.5 m, GDP in € 331.5 bn

REGION FRANKFURT Inhabitants 5.7 m, Employees 3.1 m, GDP in € 242.4 bn

REGION STUTTGART Inhabitants 5.4 m, Employees 2.9 m, GDP in € 225.9 bn

REGION HAMBURG Inhabitants 5.2 m, Employees 2.7 m, GDP in € 193.0 bn

REGION BERLIN Inhabitants 6.0 m, Employees 2.9 m, GDP in € 180.1 bn

REGION MUNICH Inhabitants 5.9 m, Employees 3.4 m GDP in € 279.6 bn

• Strong ICT location Düsseldorf -A hotspot for digital transformation
• Broadband access 90% fixed line with 50Mbit/s extension LTE to 5G until 2020. All three mobile operators in Germany are based in Dusseldorf. Around 1,900 ICT companies with over 30,000 employees, Ecosystem for digital innovation
• Urban Innovation is fuelled by a growing startup scene
• Location cost; favourable trade tax multiplier in Düsseldorf
• Among the top 6 in the world when it comes to quality of living

She also mentioned that City of Dusseldorf can support by providing Information on establishing a company, help in finding commercial real estate and advice and support on permits and visas

VIENNA JUNE 23, 2018 & BUDAPEST JUNE 24,2018

The delegates had sightseeing of various places in Vienna and Budapest being Saturday and Sunday.

BUDAPEST JUNE 25, 2018

MEETING AT THE HUNGARIAN CHAMBER OF ENGINEERS

Mr Nagy Gyula, President, Hungarian Chamber of Engineers welcomed the delegates and explained about the activities of the Chamber by stating that the Engineers Chamber is an independent public body of the engineering.  The Chamber also performs public duties as public bodies: assesses, permits and registers professional privileges for chamber members and chamber registers at national level, contributes to the professional and ethical standards of engineering activity and to the development of technical regulation, standardization and quality assurance systems. It continuously cooperates with institutions and ministries responsible for higher education, participates in the development of qualification and further training requirements, organizes training courses for qualified and certified professional engineers.

After describing the role of the Chamber its history and its general activities and professional regulation, guests were informed about the design and design of low energy buildings, the geothermal energy utilization issues and the planning of solar power plants and the related investment and cooperation opportunities in Hungary. They also summarized the Hungarian organization and results of water management of particular importance to India.

Gyula Nagy emphasized that the Hungarian engineers are ready to cooperate, and the mutual benefits will certainly improve the cooperation.

The meeting was also attended by other office bearers Mr. Botond Madaras, Vice President, Dr Virag Rudolf, General Secretary and Mr Gabor Szollossy, former General Secretary and now Advisor.

VISIT TO HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENT

The delegation was welcomed at the Hungarian Parliament and was given a guided tour of the historic monument. The tour also gave an insight into the evolution of the Hungarian nation, parliamentary system and way of functioning of the government

MEETING AT EUROPEAN COMMISSION

The delegation was received by Ms Liliana Zugo, Economic Analyst, European Commission. She said here in European Commission, we have three key sectors one dealing with media responding to the journalist’s queries, publishing press releases, second is communications with citizens of Hungary and third is Policy and Political analysis.

She said as you are aware nineteen members in EU have euro as currency and common monetary policy but several other polices are not common but they need to be harmonized. This harmonization is done at European states so we are far away from economic policies like budgetary polices, taxation policies, energy polices, education polies etc. to see Hungarian economy is conversing towards Europe or how it fits into European economy.

Ms Liliana showed few links of information where one can search the information about member state, how taxation is there, how one can employ, standardization criteria of the product etc.

Budapest, June 26, 2018

MEETING WITH HUNGARIAN INVESTMENT PROMOTION AGENCY (HIPA)

Indian delegates were received by Mr Marton Szabo, Director, Incentive Directorate, Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency, Mr Csaba Jenei, Head of Department, Technology & Life Science Department and Ms Sara Holly, Senior Consultant. Mr Szabo introduced the hipa as a national investment promotion organization governed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It provides professional consultancy service to interested companies free of charge in a one-stop-shop services model, supporting them in selecting a business location, providing tailor made incentives offers and information on state subsidy issues, identifying investment possibilities and dealing with public authorities.

It also helps in organizing meetings with HR & real estate agencies, law firms and other consultants based on your needs and reference visits at companies that are already established in Hungary.

 Mr Marton assured his fullest support to Indian delegates their presence in Hungary.

MEETING WITH HUNGARIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Hungarian Chamber has organized the India Hungary Business Forum followed by B2B meetings.

Mr József Gaál , Vice-President, Industrial Development and Innovation, Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed the delegation and said though this is our first delegation but we appreciate the Indian delegation coming in such large number. He introduced the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce by stating that the Chambers of commerce and industry in Hungary have a long history: their traditions run back over more than 165 years. Currently the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce Industry (HCCI) operates as an “umbrella-organisation”, incorporating and co-ordinating the activities of 23 regional chambers on national and international level. Its voluntary membership is made of over 20 thousand businesses from the commercial, industrial, handicraft and services sectors representing both companies and self-employed entrepreneurs.

The HCCI’s main tasks include fostering the development of the economy, promoting fair market practices and representing the joint interests of those conducting business activities. These activities are intended to strengthen the Hungarian business community, primarily the SME sector, and to increase their competitiveness on both the domestic and international markets. The introduction of a compulsory chamber registration system in 2012, enabling the HCCI to build a database containing the data of about 600,000 business entities, was a major contribution to improving the transparency of the economy. The Chamber’s membership to the Eurochambres and the ICC in 1990 opened new ways for an intensive lobbying activity.

He said one of our major objectives is to increase Hungarian exports by improving Hungarian SMEs to position themselves to European and other international market. We organize Business forum, B2B meetings and trade mission to assist Hungarian entrepreneurs in exploring new partnership and opportunities. We also offer extensive information and consultancy services.

We believe India can offer us opportunities and our experience is that Hungarian companies are interested in Indian market.  Indian companies like TCS, Tata Steel, Wipro, Apollo Tyres, SMR, Orion Technologies, Tech Mahindra etc. are already there.

Thereafter Mr. Ameet Nivsarkar, leading the delegation thanked the Hungarian Chamber and gave insights into the Indian economy. He said Indian economy is the fastest growing economy in the world and this we see continuously for significant period of time. There are enormous opportunities in almost every single sector for conservation and investment.  Most of the global companies are looking at Indian market. We have seen large aspiration unlike Hungary and Central European economy we have growing population and half a billion of population is below 25 years. It is a massive demographic push that economy is getting. In the larger economy like China also started aging as they adopted one child policy in 1970s and India does not seem to be that demographic push is going to be for 25 years. We are growing at the rate of 7-8%. Our current government is also business friendly and encourages global companies to come. We have some companies from central European countries presence in India. We at Chamber can assist your companies in accessing India market. Today we have member companies with us who would like to make the decision where to start in Europe.

On macro perspective India and EU have great relations. EU is India’s largest trading partners whereas India is not EU largest trading partner. The trade between EU and India is one fifth of what trade between EU and China is. There are enormous opportunities if more and more partnership happens, more investment happens and there is more & more market access.

MOU SIGNING

Mr Ameet Nivsarkar and Mr József Gaál signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of EU Chambers of Commerce and the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Both leaders expressed their view by stating that MoU signed between our two organizations will further facilitate trade and investment for our companies. There would be wide range avenues that would open up due to the signing of his MoU which would be beneficial to both the stakeholders.

The Indian delegates introduced themselves and talked about their expectations.

Mr. Csaba Kilián TBC, CEO, Association of the Hungarian Automotive Industry said the mission of the Association is to make eeffective representation in legal, economic and social issues, improve competitiveness, promote national suppliers, support strong and productive R&D&I, foster further automotive investments and enhancing international partnership

The members’ contribution to the total automotive export is 93%, to the total output of the Hungarian Automotive Industry is 80%, to the total automotive investments is 90%, to the total automotive R&D&I investments is 90% and they employed more than: 80 000 people

The meeting was also attended by Dr. Sándor Sipos TBC, Head of Department, Asia-Pacific Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr Süveges-Szabó László , Director, Asia and Middle-East Department, Hungarian National Trading House,  Ms Maria Stark, Director, Ms Flora Palmay, Deputy Director and Mr Laszlo Beres, Area Manager and Hungarian companies.

Dr. Renu Shome, Director, the Council of the European Union Chambers of Commerce made the presentation on the activities of the organization and expressed her desire for greater co-operation between the Chambers and briefed the objectives of the visit.

The meeting was followed by refreshments and B2b meetings.

MEETING WITH TCS OFFICIALS

A meeting was organized by TCS office in Budapest. Indian delegates were received by Mr Prabal Datta, General Manager & Delivery Center Head, Mr Sai Mohan Sristy, Presales Head at Hungary Delivery Center and Ms Edit Bencsik, Alliance and Marketing Manager. Delegates were introduced with the various activities of TCS at Budapest. Mr Sai Mohan made an overall operations presentation covering the history of the centre, how many people, customers, services they deliver etc. The delegates also had detailed Q & A session which also covered the topics of advantages in setting up a centre in Hungary, tax benefits etc. Post which the delegates visited one of the customer operations floor to actually experience the multi lingual and diversity of teams they have in Hungary. All in all it was an interactive and successful meeting where we received a glimpse of IT Services operations overview for the largest IT company in India as well as one of the top 3 companies in the Hungarian market.

Warsaw, June 27, 2018

MEETING WITH INDO POLISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (IPCCI) AND POLISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (KIG)

IPCCI and KIG jointly organized the India-Poland Seminar followed by B2B meetings. It was attended by approx. 60 Polish companies. The dignitaries who were present were: H. E Mr Tsewang Namgyal, Indian Ambassador to Poland and Lithuania, Mr Marek Kloczko, Vice President, Polish Chamber of Commerce, Mr Jerzy Drozdz, Ambassador & Director Foreign Relations Department, Polish Chamber of Commerce, Mr J J Singh President, IPCCI, Mr Konrad Pawlik, Deputy Director, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mr Kloczko thanked Indian delegates for visiting Poland and said there are numerous opportunities of cooperation between our two Countries. We should utilize today’s meeting which will help to bring closer business between India and Poland.

He also introduced The Polish Chamber of Commerce (KIG) which is the largest independent business organization in Poland. Established in 1990, it represents the largest number of entrepreneurs, combining over 150 business organizations, 65 Chambers of Industry, 59 Regional Chambers, 18 Bilateral Chambers and 14 other organizations (associations, employers’ associations, foundations)

The strategic areas of activity are advocacy of interests of Polish entrepreneurs and supporting Polish exports. KIG represents the voice of EU entrepreneurs in the form of opinions and positions of the business community at the EU level in relation to policies or draft legal regulations. The opinions formulated by the Polish Chamber of Commerce are often based on research among entrepreneurs. A number of EU-related projects implemented by the Polish Chamber of Commerce together with EU partners and KIG member chambers contribute to strengthening both the position of chambers of commerce as representatives of the business environment and the competitive position of companies associated in chambers.

Mr J J Singh also welcomed the delegates and said Poland and India cooperation stands at good point. The bilateral trade is USD 3 billion annual basis. Polish companies are already making good investment in India. One of the Polish IT Companies one and a half year back has invested in Pune. There are various Indian companies already present in Poland and more Indian companies are coming to Poland. Polish economy is growing and for first three months of this year there has been growth of 5.2% GDP which I believe is quite good and as it is growing close to India’s growth for the first three months of this year is 6.6% GDP. There are various sectors of cooperation between the two countries such as Chemical, Ship building, food processing, IT on which we can work and take more JVs to make more successful. Beginning of this year we have delegation from coal sector from India. Ministry of Coal & & energy has assigned group of companies to work closely and represent the Polish coal & mining Industry in India to bid some more tenders and expand. India is in need of know-how and help from Polish mining industry which has good know –how and knowledge of extracting coal from the ground. These visit help in further strengthening the relations between our two countries.

H. E Mr Tsewang Namgyal, Indian Ambassador to Poland and Lithuania thanked Mr JJ Singh and Mr Marek Kloczko for taking efforts in organizing the meeting in honour of Indian delegates and welcome Indian delegates. He said this shows their commitment to enhance bilateral trade and commercial relations between India and Poland. He also thanked the EU Chamber for taking initiative to bring the business delegation to Poland. He said such visits of business delegation, high level visits of dignitaries, summit and fairs are real helpful. He added Poland is India’s largest trading partner and export destination in the Central Europe with bilateral trade growing almost seven- fold in last ten years. The two way trade in 2017 was USD 3.16 billion registering growth of 11% over the previous year.

India’s investment in Poland is USD 3 billion mainly in sectors such as steel. ICT, Pharma, packing include ArcelorMittal, Videocon, Escorts, Strides Arcolab, Reliance Industries, Ranbaxy, Essel Propack, KPIT Cummins, Zensar Technologies Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies Ltd, Infosys and Wipro, Jindal Stainless, Berger Paints India, UFLEX and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Rishab Instruments (acquired Lumel) and CRISIL.

whereas Polish Investment in India are USD 600 million primarily in packaging , mining,, sanitary product, cosmetic green energy include Torunskie Zaklady Materialow Opatrunkowych (TZMO) in Dindigul (manufacturing hygiene and sanitary products), Can-Pack Poland in Aurangabad (manufacturing metal packaging), Geofizyka Torun, Famur Group, Solaris (eco buses) and Ekolog (waste to energy).

Current level of bilateral trade which is in favour of India and far below the potential given the size and performance of our economies in recent past. Today Poland is the 8^th largest economy in EU and in real GDP term the Country is poised to become Europe’s new growth engine. Polish economy double in size as measured in term of real GDP over the last 25 years. Annual GDP growth between 1991 and 2008 was an impressive 4.6% and the growth continue thereafter and Poland was only country in EU to avoid the recession during financial crisis. Poland’s growth mainly based on dynamic exports, from internal demand, productivity improvements, foreign direct investment and inflow of EU fund.

India has emerged as fastest growing measured economy in the world and is expected to be one of the top economic powers of the world in the next 10-15 years backed by strong demographic partnership. India’s GDP stand at 6.6% in 2017 and expected to grow by  7.3% in FY 2018-19. Foreign companies are setting up their facilities in India on the base of the Government initiatives like Make in India and digital India. The government has launched make in India initiatives with an aim to boost manufacturing sector of the economy to increase purchasing power of average Indian consumer which will further boost demand and enhance the development in addition to benefitting investors.

Beside the government has also come up with the digital India initiative which focuses on three core components- creation of digital infrastructure, delivering services digitally and to increase the digital literacy. Then there is a smart city mission programme for comprehensive and systematic transformation through planned urbanization of this common flagship initiatives provide opportunities for Polish companies to invest in India. Aside from this flagship initiatives sectors such as coal & mining, It & ICT, agro & food processing, defense, automobile these kinds of technologies are important sectors between India and Poland investment. I am confident this kind of event will help long way in enhancing bilateral trade and ties between our two countries.

Mr Konrad in his speech said Poland see India as important partner in economic and political field. India is already the first investment destination for Polish companies in Asia We are pleased to know that the increase in trade between our two countries by 25% in 2016 and 15% in 2017. There is still a potential in the economic sphere and we believe it is not explored properly. We see a lot of opportunities in several sectors like IT, renewable, automotive and auto tools, mining. A lot has been said already. Polish economy is growing fast and Polish companies are looking for more business opportunities abroad than ever before. The potential for cooperation is growing. The figures that I mentioned in the beginning show that there is a potential and these figures are symbolic and very meaningful. I want to assure you that Polish economic diplomacy together with other ministries which are responsible for facilitating economic and business contacts are these which will facilitate further contacts between our business and entrepreneurship sectors especially in these areas which has been mentioned so you can count on us as we believe the potential is still unused and together we can do more.

In the evening Ambassador and IPCCI hosted the dinner in honour of Indian delegates where many Polish and Indian companies have been invited.  The Ambassador discussed economic scenarios in India and Poland and gave some insights on how Indian companies should approach Poland.