Local businesses look to exploit investment potential

When China identified Poland as a key European player in the Belt and Road Initiative, many in the Polish business world saw dollar signs.

They reasoned that enhanced political engagement would surely mean an injection of Chinese money into the Polish economy. To an extent, this has been the case: in 2014, Chinese funding accounted for 0.25 percent of total foreign investment in Poland, and last year, it rose to 1.2 percent.

Last year, 880 Polish companies received Chinese capital, according to a report in the economics journal Rzeczpospolita. The country's energy, machinery, electronic manufacturing, business and trade services, real estate and biomedical industries were all targeted by Chinese investors.