With its first direct flight from Warsaw touching down in Beijing on April 3, LOT Polish Airlines aims to expand its network as well as its business to China on back of the two countries' growing trade ties.

"We launched our first Asian direct route in China in view of the considerable growth of the Chinese economy, the rapid development of the Polish market and the increasing economic cooperation and tourist exchanges between Poland and China," said Wojciech Kadziolka, LOT spokesman.

"The launch of direct flights to Beijing is the first step toward expanding our long-distance network to include Asia," said Kadziolka. "The close economic relations between Asian countries - especially China - and Poland as well as the rest of Europe and an ever increasing number of tourists promise a high passenger rate for our thrice-weekly round-trip flights."

According to Andrzej Bolesta, head of the economic department of the Polish embassy, China is Poland's biggest business partner in Asia and the third largest sourcing country in the world.

"Last year, exports from Poland to China stood at US$1.1 billion and imports crossed the US$10-billion mark to reach US$11.64 billion," said Bolesta. "A lot of Chinese enterprises have set up offices and facilities in Poland."

Lenovo Group, the world's fourth biggest maker of personal computers, has invested US$20 million in a manufacturing plant in Poland that is expected to come onstream in the third quarter with an initial production capacity of over 2 million desktop PCs a year.