by Cristiana Missori

(ANSA) - ROME - ''I'm not aware of ongoing negotiations to encourage the arrival of Electrolux in Poland and I am convinced that competition in attracting investments can not depend on wage levels''. Polish Economy Minister Janusz Piechocinski did not come forward with any revealing information, while responding to reporters after a day of talks in Rome with Minister for Economic Development Flavio Zanonato, and Vice-President of the European Commission Antonio Tajani.

''Competitiveness'' , a word often repeated by Piechocinski, while deliberately avoiding any reference to the story of Swedish manufacturing giant, which intends to drastically reduce labour costs by halving the salaries of the employees of the Italian factories, equalizing them with those of Poland. Wages, however, can not be the common standard. ''No one can compete with in Bangladesh and other Asian countries in terms of low wages'', Piechocinski warns.

''Poland may be convenient in these circumstances, but soon any investor could be interested to relocate in Moldova , where the cost of labour is 4 times less than ours''. At the present moment, however, Poland is strong, can count on a skilled and low-cost labour force, tax breaks for those who wish to invest in the country, special economic zones and EU structural funds.

And these items are coveted by many companies.

Over the past 22 years, Polish economy has experienced an uninterrupted growth and ''we are now the sixth industry in Europe'' Piechocinski underlined, adding that even the export sector recently grew by 6%, both to the countries within the EU and to other markets (UAE, Saudi Arabia and Korea).