Berlin/Hannover, 27 June 2012

Poland will remain a focus of interest for Germany and its high-tech industries long after the European Championships in 2012. The German industry association BITKOM and the leading high-tech event CeBIT have named their Eastern neighbor the official Partner Country for 2013.

"For many years now, Poland has been one of Germany's most important trading partners and boasts a fast-growing, innovative economy", explained the President of BITKOM, Dr. Dieter Kempf: "Our neighbor is an attractive, promising market for companies in the high-tech sector. German companies have much to gain from increased bilateral exchange." Further cooperation would definitely help SMEs to develop their foreign trading activities.

In the words of Frank Pörschmann, the member of Deutsche Messe's Managing Board at the helm of CeBIT: "The Polish economy is on a growth trajectory. In fact, the country is a beacon of hope for Europe. We are therefore pleased that we could announce Poland as our Partner Country at CeBIT 2013. This is an opportunity for the country to present itself as an attractive and highly competent business location with an enormous potential due to the large number of qualified specialists in the digital industry."

Deutsche Messe and BITKOM foster close working relations with Polish companies and organizations. The 2013 Partner Country concept is based on two new cooperation agreements: one between BITKOM and the Polish ICT industry, the other between Deutsche Messe and Poland's Ministry of Economic Affairs. Speaking in Berlin, the Polish Secretary of State at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Dariusz Bogdan, and CeBIT boss Frank Pörschmann yesterday signed a declaration of intent on future cooperation.

"I am exceptionally pleased that Germany, our most valued trading partner, has recognized the potential of the Polish IT sector and offered our country the opportunity to be the Partner Country at CeBIT 2013, the world's most important event in the calendar of the digital industry", said Bogdan. He added: "We will use this opportunity to foster further cooperation in the IT industry and other areas of innovative technology. I am confident that in the coming years the IT sector will drive economic growth throughout the whole of Europe and for this reason it makes sense to invest in this sector now."

BITKOM President Kempf responded in similar vein: "The German-Polish Partnership Year is a basis for the governments in both countries to meet and discuss high-tech strategies as well as economic and business policies". It is therefore fitting that the opening of the German-Polish ICT Summit on 5 March, the first day of CeBIT 2013, will see important members of the governments of both countries taking part.

CeBIT took a proactive stance on developing relations with its Eastern and Central European neighbors as early as 1993 when it staged the CeBIT Partner Region event dedicated to "Business with Eastern Europe". On this occasion the then Prime Minister of Poland, Hanna Suchocka, made an official visit to Hannover. Much has happened since then, as Frank Pörschmann was keen to emphasize: "Over the past twenty years Poland has experienced a dramatic period of development which saw it emerge virtually unscathed from the global economic crisis of 2008/2009. We want to provide our immediate neighbor with a global platform from which it can present itself to the world markets as a high-tech economy anchored in the digital world."

For quite some time, the trend on the Polish IT and telecommunications market has been one of steady growth. BITKOM's own market research institute EITO predicts a growth rate of 2.6 percent for 2012, bringing total market value to approx. 16 billion euros. The current growth areas include tablet PCs, IT outsourcing and both fixed-line network and mobile data services.