CRI听力:Huawei Expects Bigger Market Share in Poland

Huawei has been operating in Poland for over a decade.

Its 12-years in the country has established Poland as Huawei's regional hub for the 26 central, eastern and northern European countries the company currently operates in.

Huawei has already established itself as a well-known commodity in Poland.

It's smartphones cover around 20-percent of the Polish market.

The company has also managed to sign Polish National Football team captain Robert Lewandowski to be its brand ambassador.

Zhang Xibo is Huawei's deputy chief of public relations for the Baltic region.

"Getting Lewandowski on-board with us was great, because its really going a long way in promoting Huawei's brand and products to the people of Poland. It also gives people a chance to familiarize themselves with the company as a whole. And as we continue to roll out more products with the help of Lewandowski, we're quite sure our sales volume will be increasing, giving us a more dominant market share."

Beyond market-share, Huawei is also trying to gain a reputation for itself in Poland.

Of the roughly 500 people Huawei employs in Poland, around 80-percent of them are Polish.

The company is also taking steps to be a better corporate citizen, launching a number of education programs and other charitable work to help promote the company's image.

Zhang Xibo says it's a lesson other Chinese companies can learn from.

"A foreign company doesn't just have to worry about working under the laws and regulations of a country, they also have to be partners with other companies and the people in that country. We're doing that. We want to work within the local culture and society to meet their particular demands. It's worked well for us, and would be a good lesson for other Chinese companies to follow when working in foreign countries."

Economic cooperation between China and Poland is growing.

China Analyst with the Polish Institute of International Affairs, Justyna Szczudlik, says the increased corporate money flowing into Poland from China comes at an important time.

"After financial crisis and crisis in the EU, we are facing the situation that we will receive less EU funds from the EU. So now we are looking for some new source of investment, new source of capital. We are facing the challenge of saturation of European market, so we need to find another market. And Asia is a natural direction. And China, because it's the biggest and most important country in Asia, so this is the reason why we would like to expand our cooperation and enhance our cooperation with China."

Over the past 20-years, Poland has emerged as the largest economy in Central and Eastern Europe, and was the only European economy to side-step the recession brought on by the global financial crisis in 2009.

Though EU countries remain its largest trade partners, Poland is beginning to look toward Asia more and more.

Poland was the first country from Eastern or Central Europe to join the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

It's also expected to be an active player in the Chinese government's "Belt and Road" Initiative.

For CRI, I'm Liu Yuanhui.