Page 30 - Sphere No.15 (Nov 2005)

years ago he led a strike by the
trade union Solidarity at the
Gdansk shipyard, calling for
greater workers’ rights. Protests
quickly spiralled into a nation-
wide strike, forcing the Soviet-puppet government into making
major concessions.
It was the beginning of the end for the whole Soviet system of
satellite states. A decade later, it was President Walesa who set
Poland on the road to economic prosperity with wholesale pri-
vatisations of industries, the beginning of the liberalisation and
western-leaning processes that has seen the nation recently
become a member of the EU and NATO.
Another former Soviet satellite, landlocked Hungary, has also
dismantled the state machinery that once so effectively suffocat-
ed free enterprise and inde-
pendent spirit. Its self-made
millionaire premier, Ferenc
Gyurcsany, recently went to
Hong Kong and Mainland
China in search of opportu-
nities and investment that
would benefit his 10 million
fellow countrymen. This is a
region hungry for consumer
goods and with new pur-
chasing power to afford luxuries. The GDP growth rate in Latvia
last year was 7.6 per cent, slightly stronger than Lithuania (6.6
per cent) and Estonia (6.9 per cent), but way ahead of the 2.4 per
cent for the EU as a whole.
“It is one of the emerging markets,” says Wing Chu, the Hong
Kong Trade Development economist for the region. “Trade will
grow bigger and bigger, the market potential is there.”
A.S. Watson is one of the Asian-based companies that has
made significant forays into the region, convinced that now is
the right time. Early arrivals such as Michael Bourke take enor-
mous satisfaction in being a major part of that change, bringing
the former Soviet states charging full tilt into the 21st century,
with a young, English-speaking, internationalised population,
modern banking and finance facilities, good transport links and
democratic forms of government.
Mr Bourke can regale people at De Lacy’s, the Irish pub he
owns in Riga, with stories of the dark old days when entrepre-
neurs were few and far between. In fact it was easy to spot the
neophyte businessmen by their huge, brick-sized mobile
phones. “They used to carry them round like handbags,” he
recalls. “I went in a restaurant and there were two guys with
phones and I'm sure they were talking to each other from each
end of the restaurant…”
POLISH PORT READY FOR GROWTH
IT IS NOT JUST consumer goods that are providing great
business opportunities in Eastern Europe. Transport and
logistics are needed to get these goods to market and
that means bigger, better ports. Later this year, the first phase
of upgrading at the Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) contain-
er facility in Poland should be completed, ready to take
advantage of the trade boom expected to follow the nation’s
recently-acquired membership of the European Union.
HPH acquired Gdynia Container Terminal (GCT) last year
and began to develop it into a major port in the Baltic region.
With a quay length of 550 metres and a depth alongside of
10.5 metres, GCT will handle boxes to and from Hamburg,
Rotterdam, Antwerp and Felixstowe.
John Meredith, Group Managing Director of HPH, said:
“Gdynia Container Terminal will become a major container
port in the Baltic region as we embark on a series of invest-
ment programmes to convert the terminal into a modern
container handling facility. HPH considers this a very signifi-
cant step towards developing our presence in the region.”
Clockwise from above:
The old town of the Latvian
capital, Riga; clubbing and
enjoying the good life in
today’s Eastern Europe.
BALTIC BOOM
SPHERE 28 PHOTOS: FOCUS, EXCEPT SIDEBAR