Polish exports last year rose to a record 179.5 billion euros, up 8.3 percent on 2014, despite a Russian embargo, according to a new report.

In 2015, Polish exports to Germany, its main trading partner, totalled 48.7 billion euros. Exports to Russia were worth 5.1 billion euros, according to a report by Poland’s Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers (ZPP).

“Russia and its agents of influence are spreading false information about alleged large losses by Polish companies due to the Russian embargo,” said the association, quoted by the niezalezna.pl website.

“The head of the Russian Agency for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Monitoring even said that these [losses] reach USD 800 billion! (that's the value of Polish exports over several years.) Russian lies are thoughtlessly being repeated by some Polish politicians,” the association said on its website.

Cezary Kaźmierczak, chairman of the ZPP, said: “If we analyze the value of Polish exports in 2015, we will see that there can be no question of losing large, even gigantic markets to the east [of Poland] because they simply do not exist.”

He added: “Much more important for Poland than the 'great' Russia is the tiny Czech Republic.”

Polish entrepreneurs, meanwhile, are looking for new markets, for example in Africa and Asia, according to the Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers.

The EU imposed sanctions on Russia after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014. Russia imposed an embargo on Polish food later that year.

(pk)

Source: niezalezna.pl/zpp.net.pl