2009-07-01 11:46:03 -

WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Poland's prime minister said Wednesday that his country is seeking closer economic cooperation with states in the Persian Gulf region.
Donald Tusk's remarks came a day after his government identified QInvest, a Qatari fund, as the purchaser of two Polish shipyards sold last month.
Poland also announced this week a long-term $550 million deal to buy liquefied natural gas from Qatargas _ part of a strategy aimed at lessening dependence on Russian gas supplies.
QInvest's purchase of the two Polish shipyards, in the Baltic cities of Szczecin and Gdynia, offers «proof that investors from this part of the world will be interested in strategic cooperation in different branches of the Polish economy,» Tusk said at a news conference in Warsaw.
He named the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar as countries with which Poland is seeking deeper economic cooperation, saying that they could provide «a serious injection of money here in our country.

Tusk said he expects Poland, the largest of the ex-communist countries that have joined the European Union in recent years, to «absolutely become a leading country within the EU when it comes to new investments from this region.