WARSAW - Poland has a strong investment environment and welcomes more Chinese companies to invest in the country, a senior Polish economic official say.

"I want to tell the Chinese business communities and entrepreneurs that the investment environment in Poland is the best," Slawomir Majman, president of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, told Xinhua.

Majman emphasized that the government and Polish companies attach great importance to China and want to take a major step forward in China-Poland cooperation.

Regarding China as the most important and biggest export market, the Polish government has in recent years been actively promoting itself to China, Majman said.

In March, Poland launched a special "GO CHINA" project in a bid to expand and deepen economic and trade exchanges with China, to attract more Chinese investment, and expand cooperation between enterprises of both countries, Majman said.

"It's like a symphony, which was joined by eight Polish departments together, such as the Ministry of the Economy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Tourism, the Information and Foreign Investment Agency and the Polish Association of Enterprises," Majman said.

"It has never happened before in my impression," he said. "Never was there a 'Go USA' or a 'Go Australia' in the past. This is specially tailored for China."

In addition, the two countries continue to strengthen high-level political contacts.

Waldemar Pawlak, the deputy prime minister and economy minister, and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski will visit China this year to expand economic and trade cooperation, Majman said.

Majman said the investment environment in Poland has been greatly improved in recent years and the country welcomes more Chinese investment, whether from state-owned or private businesses.

Poland was ranked sixth on the list of "the world's most attractive investment countries" made by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in 2011, Majman said.

He noted that Poland's foreign direct investment in 2011 increased 46 percent while the European Union average growth rate stood at 17 percent.

The reason why foreign investors choose Poland for investment, according to a study by the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, was firstly the country's market stability despite the global financial crisis and European debt crisis.

Poland's GDP growth rate since 2005 has been maintained at around 3.6 to 6.8 percent; even in 2009, during the international financial crisis, Polish GDP growth still reached 1.71 percent, the only EU country with positive GDP growth rate, Majman said.

The World Bank has predicted the Polish GDP will grow 3.5 percent this year. Poland's stable economic development makes it one of the most competitive countries in Europe, Majman said.

The second reason, according to the study, is Poland's advantage in human resources. There is a Pole among every 10 university graduates in Europe. More than 87 percent of Polish university students master at least one foreign language. The country also has an adequate labor force.

The third reason is the expansion of Poland's domestic market, Majman said. During the economic crisis, domestic spending in Poland grew significantly by 14.5 percent in 2011.

Majman said both China and Poland are currently in the initial stage of development, and both sides need to seize the opportunity to increase mutual understanding.

"We do not expect investment between China and Poland to have huge growth in one or two years," Majman said. "We are patient. We are optimistic that the cooperation between China and Poland will make great progress in the next three to four years."