February Edition 2021

15 Poland was the third preferred location in Europe for foreign investments in Q4, 2020, with 200 foreign investments recording a total record value of €10 Billion. An innovative nation with a large domestic market, Poland offers an ideal strategic location, strong human capital resources, stability and investment potential for Israeli investors. With a 38 million population, comprising 40% of the total in the CEE, Poland is the 6th largest economy in Europe, ranked highest in the CEE region in 2019. “On average, Poles are very well educated. As many as 92% of Poland’s citizens, aged 25-64, have at least a secondary education, one of the best results among all OECD countries. There are almost 1.3 million students studying at Polish universities and they rank 1st in CEE for English proficiency. This places Poland fourth in Europe in terms of our number of students,” say s Paweł Tomczykowski, M anaging Partner at Ozóg Tomczykowski. “Taking these factors into account, it seems worth focusing on those areas and sectors where human capital is important – because it is strong in Poland. This is very similar to what we see in Israel,” he adds. Slawomir Uss, C orporate partner at Polish law firm, Soltysinski Kawecki & Szlezak (“SKS”), said: “In 2020 Poland was one of the few European states in which the number of direct foreign investments increased despite of the COVID-19 pandemic. A big chunk of it was dedicated to logistics sector (warehouse and logistics projects), as well as to the office real estate and commercial sectors. As it was the case in the whole world, 2020 saw a tremendous growth of e-commerce. This resulted in the development of the logistics sector: shipping, transport, courier and warehousing services. The services for planning, organizing and supervising logistics are developing around the sector. Poland's attractive location as a transportation hub for Central and Eastern Europe also turns out to be an advantage.” Uss adds: “In recent yearsPolandhas become the logistics centre for numerous e-commerce companies. Amazon has opened distribution centres in nine locations in Poland that mainly serve the German market. The costs of labour and real estate operation services are lower in Poland than in Germany even Poland - A Hotbed for Investment So, what are the sectors of interest to Israel?