Polish consul aims for direct flights

DIRECT flights to Warsaw and Hongkong banks opening in Poland are among the developments being pushed by Mr Andrzej Buszko, commercial consul at Poland's Consulate General.

Eight months after its opening it remains the only former East European states to have a consulate in Hongkong.

According to Mr Buszko, the consulate has reached the stage where it is no longer of interest to ''sharks'' trying to prey on perceived commercial inexperience.

''What I am getting are very professional inquiries,'' he said yesterday.

With typical labour rates of US$200 to $300 a month, a convertible currency, European Community garment quotas and a reasonable proportion of the population able to speak English, Mr Buszko is trying to promote Poland as a good manufacturing base for Hongkong companies.

However, he ruled out any scheme which would allow foreign investors to be issued with a Polish passport.

Mr Buszko is also trying to promote trade with China, which has fallen sharply since Poland moved away from the barter trade system which used to operate between communist countries.

Two Hongkong companies have major projects in Poland: listed Guangdong Enterprises is building an eight-storey shopping, trading and hotel complex near Warsaw and Min Hoong is building one of the country's largest housing estates and turning a 100-year old building in the port of Sopot into a hotel.