A BPO Outsourcing Forum – Poland as European Knowledge Process Outsourcing Centre was held in Warsaw by Roadshow Polska in partnership with the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ), Ernst & Young, Forbes and the Polish Chamber of Commerce. Polish Market was the media patron of the vent.

The Forum was focused on promoting Poland in EU countries and stirring the interest of foreign investors. ‘Poland was named the most attractive FDI location in CEE last year. A favourable investment climate, high skills of the workforce, dynamic development of modern office space are the main advantages of Poland as seen by foreign investors’ Rafal Baniak, Deputy Minister of the Economy said. According to Marcin Kaszuba, expert with Ernst & Young, the economic crisis may be beneficial for the outsourcing sector. ‘With a favourable legal framework and support from the government, Poland stands a chance to double the number of employees in this sector to 80,000 in a few years’ time.

Poland is bigger than other countries in the region, it has more inhabitants and this translates into the country’s potential: strong academic centres, two million students and growing prestige of Polish staff’ Kaszuba said. ‘At last year’s Forum we were wondering how Poland would cope with the global crisis. Today we can honestly say that Poland is looking better…paradoxically, thanks to the crisis’ PAIiIZ president Slawomir Majman said. ‘Our task is to shape the economic map of Poland. And what can do that better than modern BPO services? It is not a coincidence that 20-25% of GDP in modern economies is generated by technologically advanced services. This is the direction we are headed to build Poland’s new economy. Currently PAIiIZ is working on 121 investment projects including 25 BPO projects’ Majman said. (MP)