Warszawa, 15. oktober 1996

Norwegian Business and Industry Forum

Your Majesty, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.

It is a great pleasure for me to take part in this Norwegian Business and Industry Forum, during the State visit to Poland by Their Majesties The King and Queen of Norway.

Poland is our largest trading partner among the Central European countries. Geographically speaking, Poland is closer to Norway than any other Central European country, and we feel close ties to your country and people. We have therefore noted with great satisfaction the developments that have taken place in Poland since the end of the 1980s. As Minister of Trade, I would like to share with you some reflections on the concept of trade in today's world.

Trade and economic growth enhance quality of life in terms of more and better goods and services; which again are an important basis for stable social and democratic development. The importance of building a free and fair market economy cannot be underestimated.

At the same time, at the current stage of global liberalization of the market forces, we must also underline the importance of political and ethical guidelines such as respect for human rights and respect for nature's own tolerance. Trade always takes place in a social, cultural and ecological context, and our joint responsibility for sustainable development and democratic participation cannot be emphasised often enough. Recent developments in Poland have served as an excellent example for other Central and Eastern European countries as they entered a similar transition process.

Polish-Norwegian trade relations have developed rapidly since the establishment of a market economy in Poland. Both Norwegian exports to Poland and Norwegian investments in Poland have been steadily increasing. I am also happy to state that during the last five years, imports from Poland to Norway have grown even more strongly than our exports to Poland. In spite of this development, there is clearly a vast potential for further expansion of our economic relations. It is up to Norwegian and Polish trade and industry to exploit these rich opportunities.

Today there are more than 60 Norwegian companies or companies with Norwegian interests in Poland. These include small and medium sized enterprises and large multinational companies. Many of these companies are represented here today.

Poland is one of the largest markets in Europe, with almost 40 million consumers. This, together with its expanding economy, explains why Poland is regarded with such great interest by foreign investors. In its 1997 budget proposal, the Norwegian government allocated 70 million Norwegian kroner towards establishing an Investment Fund for Central and Eastern Europe. This will facilitate the establishment of Norwegian enterprises and thereby hopefully contribute to economic and democratic developments in the new European markets.

Moreover, for the last four years, a Norwegian Action Programme has supported cooperation projects between Norwegian and Central and Eastern European partners. Projects in Poland have to date received 124 million kroner, of a total of 1625 million kroner.

Traditional Norwegian industries are well represented in Poland. We are involved in shipping, customs storage and warehouse operations, ship classification, building and repairs and crewing of local and foreign vessels. We also trade in ships and rigs, both new and second-hand. Poland has become one of our biggest export markets for seafood products.

Later today you will be able to try some of the Norwegian specialties and to listen to people with long experience in selling and producing foodstuffs. This will, I hope, demonstrate that a large number of Norwegian companies are responsible for a variety of the well established brands available in Poland, from pizza to margarine.

I would also like to briefly mention several other sectors that have had considerable success in Poland. The Norwegian construction sector has invested substantial sums in the manufacture of building materials, ranging from concrete elements to Gypsum panels and window frames. This sector, too, is strongly represented here today, and a whole seminar this afternoon is rightly dedvoted to this industry, which we hope can make some contributions to the further modernization of the Polish economy.

Other important sectors include raw materials such as petroleum and gas; engineering products, including machinery and computers; chemical products ranging from medical products to fertilisers and plastics. Not least, it includes the environmental sector, which plays an important role in the cooperation between Norway and Poland.

Norwegian companies are also involved in some less traditional export sectors in Poland. Media is one of these, and a Norwegian company is strongly represented in the Polish newspaper and magazine world. Another company is involved in the production of Yellow pages for telephone directories in several parts of Poland.

The Norwegian presence is the result of a dynamic interchange between the business communities in our two countries. This provides a good basis for strengthening the business relations between Norway and Poland.

I have now focused on the Norwegian presence here in Poland, but trade is of course never a one-way process. There is now a trade deficit in Norway's favour. Provided that prices and products are competitive, there should be room for increased Polish exports to Norway. Poland is selling more and more highly processed and high-tech goods. Some of the increases in value during this period are impressive. For example, transport equipment increased by over 3400 per cent (!) and paper exports by more than 226 per cent.

In view of the Polish application to join the European Union, I would also like to say a few words on the relationship between EFTA and the EU.

The Free Trade Agreement between EFTA and Poland is an important instrument for facilitating and increasing trade between our two countries.

The EFTA Free Trade Agreements ensure approximately equal trading conditions for Norwegian and EU companies, which is of great importance to us.

We have also been following the developments in relations between the European Union and Poland with keen interest. An enlargement of the EU will necessarily have important economic and political implications for Norway. When the applicant countries become EU-members, they will also become party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area which govern trade and economic relations between the EU and Norway.

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Since 1989, there has been a substantial improvement in our relations. The present State visit, and the many visits by Norwegian and Polish politicians and senior officials are clear signs of this. I am confident that our exchanges will result in new products, new ideas and better ways of developing both our societies.