Eksport jako czynnik rozwoju województw wschodniego pogranicza Polski

The article explores the issues of foreign trade with a particular focus on exports. The research covers Poland’s eastern borderland, ranging over Podlaskie, Lubelskie and Podkarpackie Voivodeships. The purpose of the research is to describe and analyze exports in the peripheral regions located directly on the eastern border of Poland, and to assess the significance of exports for the development of the area concerned. In the research, the author uses the statistical data analysis method and the descriptive method with elements of deductive reasoning. The studies have shown a growth in commodity exports between 2010 and 2013, and an increasing openness of the economies of the voivodeships concerned to foreign contracts. Despite this, exports have little significance for these economies. Therefore, exports may not be treated as the only factor that determines this area’s social and economic development or that will bridge the developmental gap between this and other regions of Poland and the EU. The regions of Poland’s eastern borderland are poor at utilizing their geographic location for the purposes of trading with foreign markets.