The strength of economic cooperation between Türkiye and Poland is evident in the growing trade volume between the countries, Witold Lesniak, the consul general of the Republic of Poland in Istanbul noted recently, highlighting its broad scope and the potential to enhance it further in the areas such as renewable energy, innovation and defense.
“I witnessed the doubling of the turnover between the two countries and despite the COVID pandemic, which hit the economy very hard and also the war in Ukraine, which came straight afterwards,” Lesniak said.
He recalled the trade volume of around 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) some 15 years ago and around 6 billion euros seven or eight years later, noting that since then he was in Türkiye regularly, witnessing it double.
“Now, the main fields of this trade exchange, they are of course automotive industries, this is very big part of trade, in Poland because many of automotive spare part plants but also plants belonging to the international concerns like Mercedes are located in Poland, but also in Türkiye,” Lesniak told Daily Sabah in an interview recently.
“And you mentioned also the defense industry, I guess there are big chances for both of the countries because Türkiye realized like decades ago that it has to establish its own, independently working defense sector,” he added, referring to Turkish naval, aerospace industries and land vehicles.
“Poland is also building up this sector because of the threats we all know around us, and this industry is more state-controlled … so it is more dependent on politics just to establish a stable cooperation,” he said.
Turkish drone magnate Baykar delivered to Poland the final batch of TB2 drones earlier this year, after a 2021 year agreement to acquire 24 units, marking the first time a NATO or European Union member state acquired drones from Türkiye.
Moreover, the consul general highlighted the central role of Poland in his speech, saying that it “is located in a very important place in Europe.”
“It’s in (between) of trade routes from the West to East and from the North to South but the second route is in my opinion underestimated, by many,” he noted.
He also highlighted the role of infrastructure, such as motorways, railways and roads in boosting trade and industrial cooperation.
Answering a question about the involvement of Polish trade agencies in fostering collaboration between the countries, Lesniak touched upon the role of the Polish Trade and Investment Agency.
“So we have the Polish Trade and Investment Agency. It is having their branch offices around the world and one of these is also in Istanbul. They are located in Levent, and they are covering many connections, direct B2B connections between Turkish and Polish companies. They were with us visiting Kocaeli a couple of weeks ago,” he said.
“They have organized a very strong presence of Polish companies at Beauty Istanbul Fair in September, October,” he added.
Cooperation, renewable energy
When talking of cooperation, he also noted the importance of mentioning the steady growth of the Polish economy, which has seen one of the strongest gross domestic product (GDP) performances worldwide in recent decades.
“We can mention automotive, R&D, smart cities, cybersecurity, we have already organized events with the Trade and Investment Agency on these but the scope actually is much much broader; whatever field you would chose you would find companies from Türkiye and Poland cooperating, agro industry, energy, renewable energy,” Lesniak outlined.
He mentioned renewable energy as the sector that could carry potential when looking ahead while also recalling recent loan co-guaranteed by Polish and U.K. agencies for the Turkish renewable energy investment company Kalyon Enerji.
Highlighting the role of green policies in stimulating economic growth and Poland’s very active role in the global climate agenda, Lesniak said: “Within this context, I am very glad that Polish Export Credit Insurance Corporation (KUKE) together with U.K. Export Finance (UKEF) have guaranteed a 249 million euro loan for Kalyon Enerji, enabling the construction of Türkiye’s second-largest solar project to date.”
He also drew attention to Poland’s approach in the energy sector, mentioning that the country managed to achieve a great performance in ensuring economic growth while also decreasing emissions.
To mark one example, he provided information on an initiative called “GreenEvo,” sponsored by the Polish Ministry of Climate, which aims to help Polish green companies promote and expand their reach in the global market while expressing optimism these companies may present offers and technologies in Türkiye in the coming years.
Another common area between Tükiye and Poland is innovation and startups, with Lesniak mentioning Katowice, a city in the south of Poland being known for the gaming industry.
Türkiye-EU ties
Furthermore, answering Daily Sabah’s question on the view of Poland when it comes to the prospect of Türkiye joining the European Union at this time of ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, Donald Trump’s presidency and fast-changing and multipolar global dynamics, Lensiak said that Warsaw has always supported Türkiye in the aim to join European Union and “we haven’t changed this opinion.”
“We consider Türkiye as a very important European player and contributor to the security of Europe as a whole, and to European economy and culture,” he said.
In this regard, he affirmed strong cultural and historic ties between Türkiye and Poland, mentioning what he said was a lesser-known anniversary, the 100th anniversary of “the 1924 Polish Industrial Exhibition,” which took place in Bosporus, shortly after the establishment of the Turkish republic and only six years after the Second Polish Republic was established.
He concluded by saying that when thinking of the future, we think of concepts such as R&D, modern technologies, trade and so on, “but whatever topic we speak on, this brings us sooner or later (back to), 200, a hundred years ago,” underscoring in this sense deep-rooted and “very fair” relations between the two countries.
