Poland awards four Centaur prizes for exports to Italy

(AGI) Rome, Dec 16 - Poland's Ambassador to Rome, Tomasz Orlowski, in a ceremony at the embassy, awarded the Centaur prize to the four companies that in recent years have contributed most to the growth of the country's exports to Italy: Oknoplast, Pesa, Polski Koks and Pini Polonia. The ambassador spoke of "a young, dynamic, forward-looking Poland, combining high technology and innovation, always ready to deliver a leap forward." This new prize was created on the initiative of the embassy with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economy. Italy remains one of the main export markets for Polish industry. "The export sector has contributed most to the growth of our GDP," stressed the ambassador, noting that Polish GDP had grown by 3.5 percent per annum over the last two years. Polish exports to Italy more than doubled in 2014 to a total of 7.2 billion euros. Indeed, in the process of European integration, the economic ties between Italy and Poland are continuing to grow and improve. This is why the embassy decided to identify and reward Polish companies that have focused on the Italian market over the last financial year and have registered the most dynamic growth in sales to the peninsula. In addition to the award certificate, the winners received a statuette designed and created specially for the occasion by acclaimed Polish sculptor Bronislaw Krzysztof, known abroad as the designer of Sisley perfume bottles. For the building industry the 2015 Centaur went to Oknoplast, a leading manufacturer of PVC doors and windows for which Italy is the second biggest market after the domestic one with a turnover of 35 million euros in 2014. In the electromechanical sector the award went to Pesa Bydgoszcz, Poland's biggest railway vehicle manufacturer, in business for over 160 years. In the raw materials category, the Centaur award went to Polski Koks, founded in 1996 and a member of the JSW Group. Finally, in food and agriculture, the award was won by Pini Polonia, one of the biggest and most modern salami factories in the world and one of the top three in Europe. (AGI) . .