Useful Information about Poland
Index to Useful Information about Poland
Click on the links below to take you to the relevant section
The following information is compiled to the best of our knowledge and in good faith. E&OE.
General
Overview
Situated at the centre of Europe, and the largest of the former Eastern European states, Poland’s position is crucial.
Poland has become one of the major destinations for travellers. Its beauty can be admired in both its old cities and in the wild scenery of its national parks and nature reserves. The country’s regions are largely divided into horizontal bands: the Baltic Coast and the hilly post-glacial Lake District.
Central Poland is split into northern lowlands and southern uplands, including the Kraków-Wielun Upland with its limestone areas, caves and medieval castles. The Carpathian Mountains, including the Tatras, lie in the extreme south; their mountain scenery, folklore and sports facilities contributing to their charm.
Poland is a nation with a proud cultural heritage, and theatre, music and opera companies abound. The former textile city of Lodz is proud of its film school, alma mater to directors Roman Polanski and Krzysztof Kieslowski. There is also a strong tradition of graphic design and glassware.
Although the native soil for composer Frederick Chopin, scientist Marie Curie (neé Skladowska) and astronomer Nicholas Copernicus, Poland is best remembered for being the birthplace of the former Soviet bloc’s first officially recognized independent mass political movement when strikes at the Gdansk shipyard in August 1980 led to agreement with the authorities on the establishment of the Solidarnosc (Solidarity) trade union.
Elections in summer 1989 ushered in Eastern Europe’s first post-Communist government. Poland is a member of the European Union and has achieved success in creating a market economy and attracting foreign investment. Growth is slow-moving and growing pains are apparent in the high unemployment rate and mass exodus of qualified people to other countries in search of a decent wage, but the potential exists for a healthier economy.
back to top
History
Great (north) Poland was founded in 966 by Mieszko I, who belonged to the Piast dynasty. The tribes of southern Poland then formed Little Poland. In 1047, both Great Poland and Little Poland united under the rule of Casimir I the Restorer. Poland merged with Lithuania by royal marriage in 1386. The Polish-Lithuanian state reached the peak of its power between the 14th and 16th centuries, scoring military successes against the (Germanic) Knights of the Teutonic Order, the Russians, and the Ottoman Turks.
Lack of a strong monarchy enabled Russia, Prussia, and Austria to carry out a first partition of the country in 1772, a second in 1792, and a third in 1795. For more than a century thereafter, there was no Polish state, just Austrian, Prussian, and Russian sectors, but the Poles never ceased their efforts to regain their independence. The Polish people revolted against foreign dominance throughout the 19th century. Poland was formally reconstituted in Nov. 1918, with Marshal Josef Pilsudski as chief of state. In 1919, Ignace Paderewski, the famous pianist and patriot, became the first prime minister. In 1926, Pilsudski seized complete power in a coup and ruled dictatorially until his death on May 12, 1935.
Despite a ten-year non-aggression pact signed in 1934, Hitler attacked Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. Soviet troops invaded from the east on Sept. 17, and on Sept. 28, a German-Soviet agreement divided Poland between the USSR and Germany. Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz formed a government-in-exile in France, which moved to London after France's defeat in 1940. All of Poland was occupied by Germany after the Nazi attack on the USSR in June 1941. Nazi Germany's occupation policy in Poland was designed to eradicate Polish culture through mass executions and to exterminate the country's large Jewish minority.
The Polish government-in-exile was replaced with the Communist-dominated Polish Committee of National Liberation by the Soviet Union in 1944. Moving to Lublin after that city's liberation, it proclaimed itself the Provisional Government of Poland. Some former members of the Polish government in London joined with the Lublin government to form the Polish Government of National Unity, which Britain and the U.S. recognized. On Aug. 2, 1945, in Berlin, President Harry S. Truman, Joseph Stalin, and Prime Minister Clement Attlee of Britain established a new de facto western frontier for Poland along the Oder and Neisse rivers. (The border was finally agreed to by West Germany in a nonaggression pact signed on Dec. 7, 1970.) On Aug. 16, 1945, the USSR and Poland signed a treaty delimiting the Soviet-Polish frontier. Under these agreements, Poland was shifted westward. In the east, it lost 69,860 sq mi (180,934 sq km); in the west, it gained (subject to final peace-conference approval) 38,986 sq mi (100,973 sq km).
A new constitution in 1952 made Poland a “people's democracy” of the Soviet type. In 1955, Poland became a member of the Warsaw Treaty Organization and its foreign policy identical to that of the USSR. The government undertook persecution of the Roman Catholic Church as a remaining source of opposition. Wladyslaw Gomulka was elected leader of the United Workers (Communist) Party in 1956. He denounced the Stalinist terror, ousted many Stalinists, and improved relations with the church. Most collective farms were dissolved, and the press became freer. A strike that began in shipyards and spread to other industries in Aug. 1980 produced a stunning victory for workers when the economically hard-pressed government accepted for the first time in a Marxist state the right of workers to organize in independent unions.
Led by Solidarity, an independent union founded by an electrician, Lech Walesa, workers launched a drive for liberty and improved conditions. A national strike for a five-day workweek in Jan. 1981 led to the dismissal of Prime Minister Pinkowski and the naming of the fourth prime minister in less than a year, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski. Martial law was declared on Dec. 13, when Walesa and other Solidarity leaders were arrested, and Solidarity was outlawed. Martial law formally ended in 1984 but the government retained emergency powers. Increasing opposition to the government because of the failing economy led to a new wave of strikes in 1988. Unable to quell the dissent entirely, the government relegalized Solidarity and allowed it to compete in elections.
Solidarity members won a stunning victory in 1989, taking almost all the seats in the Senate and all of the 169 seats they were allowed to contest in the Sejm. This gave them substantial influence in the new government. Tadeusz Mazowiecki was appointed prime minister. Lech Walesa won the presidential election of 1990 with 74% of the vote. In 1991, the first fully free parliamentary election since World War II resulted in representation for 29 political parties. Efforts to turn Poland into a market economy, however, led to economic difficulties and widespread discontent. In the second democratic parliamentary election of Sept. 1993, voters returned power to ex-Communists and their allies. Solidarity's popularity and influence continued to wane. In 1995, Aleksander Kwasniewski, leader of the successor to the Communist Party, the Democratic Left, won the presidency over Walesa in a landslide.
In 1999, Poland became part of NATO, along with the Czech Republic and Hungary.
In Sept. 2001 parliamentary elections, former Communists, reconstituted as the centre-left Democratic Left Alliance, won 41% of the vote. The election seemed to mark the demise of Solidarity, which did not win a single seat.
Poland was a staunch supporter of the United States and Britain during the Iraq war and sent 200 troops to Iraq (60 were combat soldiers). In Sept. 2003, Poland became the leader of a 9,000-strong multinational stabilizing force in Iraq. It contributed 2,000 of its own soldiers. In April 2005, Poland announced it would withdraw all troops from Iraq at the end of the year.
On May 1, 2004, Poland joined the EU. Prime Minister Leszek Miller resigned on May 2, 2004. His popularity had plummeted to 10% because of the country's continued economic troubles and a number of corruption scandals. Former finance minister Marek Belka succeeded him.
In 2005, conservative Lech Kaczynski became the new president, replacing former Communist Aleksander Kwasniewski, and Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz was appointed prime minister. In July 2006 the immensely popular and well-respected prime minister resigned abruptly, a move many believe was the result of his difficulties in working with President Kaczynski. The president then appointed his twin brother—Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the Law and Justice Party—as prime minister.
Prime Minister Kaczynski formed a fragile majority coalition with two small parties, the Self-Defence Party and the League of Polish Families. After months of political turmoil, the coalition fell apart in August 2007, as Kaczynski sacked four ministers from the partner parties. In September, Kaczynski called for early elections and Parliament voted to dissolve itself.
back to top
Geography
Poland can be divided broadly into three relief groups: the lowlands, the highlands, and the mountains. There are sharp contrasts between the northern two-thirds of the country and the southern one-third.
Eastern Poland displays characteristics common to Eastern Europe, but the rest of the country is linked to Western Europe by structure, climate, and the character of its vegetation.
The Baltic Coastal Plain stretches across northern Poland from Germany to Russia (Kaliningrad region). The Pomeranian (Pomorska) Bay in the west and the Gulf of Gdansk in the east are the two major inlets. In the southern portion of the former, two islands block off the Szczecin (Szczecinski) Lagoon, into which the Oder discharges its waters. In the Gulf of Gdansk, the Vistula (Wisla) River forms a large delta. Sandbars, on which the winds have created large dunes, line much of the coast, separating the coastal lakes and lagoons from the sea.
The main urban centres are the ports of Szczecin on the lower Oder and Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot in the east.
The belt immediately to the south of the coastal plain presents, with its many lakes, a varied, hilly landscape.
Wide river valleys divide the region into three parts: the Pomeranian (Pomorskie) Lakeland; the Masurian (Mazurskie) Lakeland, east of the lower Vistula; and the Great Poland (Wielkopolskie) Lakeland.
There are some 9,300 Polish lakes with areas of more than 1 hectare (2.5 acres), and their total area is 1 percent of the national territory.
The larger settlements and the main communications routes of this zone lie in and along the river valleys; the remainder of the area is mostly wooded and thinly populated.
The character of the central lowlands is generally flat and monotonous. The basins of the main rivers divide the area into the Silesian Lowland, which lies in the upper Oder; the southern Great Poland Lowland, which lies in the middle Warta basin; and the Mazovian and Podlasian lowlands, which lie in the middle Vistula basin.
Lower Silesia (main city: Wroclaw) and Great Poland (Poznan) are important agricultural areas, but large industrial centres are found in many parts of the central lowlands. Warsaw, the capital, situated on the middle Vistula, is most prominent.
The uplands of Little Poland (main city: Cracow), south of the central lowlands, extend from east to west, but they are folded transversely. In the west is the Silesian-Crakow upthrust, with rich deposits of coal. A second upthrust is formed by the ancient rocks of the Swietokrzyskie ("Holy Cross") Mountains, which reach a maximum elevation of 612 m.
East of the Swietokrzyskie Mountains, and the valley of the Vistula, lay the Lublin (Lubelska) Uplands.
In the south occur patches of loess, on which fertile brown (and black) soils have developed.
The older geological regions contain valuable minerals: in the Silesian-Kraków uplands there are coal, iron, zinc, and lead deposits. These mineral resources have made possible the rise of Poland's most important industrial region, and the landscape of Upper Silesia is highly urbanized. Katowice is the largest centre.
To the north the Staropolski ("Old Polish") Basin, situated in the foothills of the Shwietokrzyskie Mountains, has a long history of industrial production.
The Sudeten and its foreland are part of the larger Bohemian Massif. Their highest part, the Karkonosze, reaches 1,602 m (Sniezka) above sea level. The region has many small towns. Resorts and spas are found in more secluded areas. The foreland of the Sudeten, separated by a large fault from the larger mass, contains many granite quarries.
The southernmost portion of Poland embraces the Carpathian Mountains and their associated chains and basins. Within the Polish frontiers lie the Oswiecim and Sandomierz basins, a portion of the Beskid Mountains, the Orawka-Podhale Basin, and the Tatra Mountains.
The sub-Carpathian basins contain deposits of salt, sulphur, natural gas and some petroleum. There is both a large rural population and many towns of medium size.
The highest peaks of the Tatras - with peak Rysy of 2,499 metres - are the highest part of the Polish Carpathians. Zakopane, the largest tourist and resort centre in Poland, lies at their feet.
The Bieszczady Mountains, carpeted in beech woods, lie in the extreme southeast.
back to top
Climate
The overall climate of Poland has a transitional - and highly variable - character between maritime and continental types. The major elements involved are oceanic air masses from the west, cold polar air from Scandinavia or Russia, and warmer, subtropical air from the south. The weather pattern of Poland is very warm from May- to September and gets very cold in the winter months from December to March, with lots of snow for winter sport lovers.
Poland has a temperate climate characterised by cold winters and warm summers. Winters become increasingly severe inland from the Baltic coast, with January temperatures in Warsaw averaging 23°F (-5°C). In summer it is hotter inland; with July temperatures in Warsaw averaging 66°F (19°C). Rain can be expected throughout the year, particularly in the southern mountains.
Warsaw has a continental climate, with cold, snowy winters and mild summers. On average, summer temperatures range between 47°F and 73°F (9°C and 22°C), while winter temperatures range between 25°F and 42°F (-4°C and 6°C). July is the wettest month, though rain does fall sporadically throughout the year.
Krakow has a temperate climate, influenced by the weather systems that build over the Atlantic. The weather in Krakow in summer is comfortably warm with occasional heat waves when dry continental air comes in from the east. An old Polish poem says that in Krakow 'days are longest in June, hottest in July and most beautiful in August'. Autumn in Krakow brings dry, warm days starting with morning mist, and rich golden colouration of the foliage. Winter is fairly severe when the city is blanketed in snow and temperatures at or below freezing. Spring is the best season in Krakow, when bright, mild days are accompanied by the fragrance of blossom.
back to top
Culture & People
The style and personality of Polish life has been shaped over a thousand years. The national culture developed at the crossroads of the Latinate and Byzantine worlds, in continual dialogue with the many ethnic groups in Poland. The people of Poland have always been hospitable to artists from abroad, and eager to follow what was happening in other countries. In the 19th and 20th centuries Poles' concentration on cultural advancement often took the place of political and economic activity. These factors have contributed to the versatile character of Polish art, with all its complex nuances.
Dialogue and the penetration of cultures have been major characteristics of Polish tradition for centuries. Customs, manners, and dress have reflected the influences of east and west. The traditional costumes worn by the gentry in the 16th and 17th centuries were inspired by rich eastern ornamental styles, including Islamic influences. Polish cuisine and social customs are another reflection of multifarious trends.
Polish towns reflect the whole spectrum of European styles. Poland's eastern frontiers marked the boundary of the influences of Western architecture on the continent. History has not been kind to Poland's architectural monuments. However, a number of ancient edifices have survived: castles, churches, and stately homes, sometimes unique in the regional or European context. Some of them have been painstakingly restored (the Royal Castle in Cracow), or completely reconstructed after totally devastation in the Second World War (the Old City and Royal Castle in Warsaw, the Old Cities of Gdańsk and Wrocław). Kazimierz on the Vistula is an example of a well-preserved mediaeval town. Cracow ranks among the best preserved Gothic and Renaissance urban complexes in Europe. Polish church architecture deserves special attention. Some interesting buildings were also constructed during the Communist regime in the style of Socialist Realism. Recently, some remarkable specimens of modern architecture have been erected.
Polish art has always reflected world trends while maintaining its unique character. Jan Matejko's famous school of Historicist painting produced monumental portrayals of events, which were historic for Poland. Stanisław Witkiewicz was an ardent supporter of Realism in Polish art, its main representative being Jozef Chełmoński. The Młoda Polska (Young Poland) movement witnessed the birth of modern Polish art, and engaged in a Geat deal of formal experimentation. Its main adherents were Jacek Malczewski (Symbolism), Stanisław Wyspiański, Józef Mehoffer, and a group of Polish Impressionists. Artists of the twentieth-century Avant-Garde represented various schools and trends. The art of Tadeusz Makowski was influenced by Cubism; while Władysław Strzemiński and Henryk Stażewski worked within the Constructivist idiom. Distinguished contemporary artists include Roman Opałka, Leon Tarasewicz, Jerzy Nowosielski, and Mirosław Bałka and Katarzyna Kozyra in the younger generation. The most celebrated Polish sculptors include Xawery Dunikowski, Katarzyna Kobro, Alina Szapocznikow and Magdalena Abakanowicz. Since the inter-war years, Polish art and documentary photography has enjoyed world-wide recognition. In the sixties the Polish Poster School was formed, with Henryk Tomaszewski and Waldemar Świerzy at its head.
The origins of Polish literature written in the Polish vernacular go back beyond the 14th century. In the 16th century the poetic works of Jan Kochanowski established him as a leading representative of European Renaissance literature. Baroque and Neo-Classicist letters made a signal contribution to the cementing together of Poland's peoples of many different cultural backgrounds.The early 19th-century novel Manuscrit trouvé a Saragosse by Count Jan Potocki, which survived in its Polish translation after the loss of the original in French, became a world classic. Wojciech Hass' film based on it, a favourite with Luis Bunuel, later became a cult film on university campuses. Poland's great Romantic literature flourished in the 19th century when the country had lost its independence. The poets Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki and Zygmunt Krasiński, the "Three Bards," became the spiritual leaders of a nation deprived of its sovereignty, and prophesied its revival. Henryk Sienkiewicz, a Nobel prizewinner for his novel Quo Vadis in 1905, eulogised the historical tradition.
In the early 20th century many outstanding literary works emerged from exchange across cultures and Avant-Garde experimentation. The legacy of the Kresy Marchlands in Poland's eastern regions with Wilno and Lwów (now Vilnius and Lviv) as two major centres for the arts, played a special role in these developments. This was also a region in which Jewish tradition and the mystic movement of Hasidism thrived. The Kresy were a cultural trysting-place for numerous ethnic and national groups, where the arts flourished of cultures in contact with each other. The works of Bruno Schulz, Bolesław Leśmian, and Józef Czechowicz were written here. In the south of Poland, Zakopane was the birthplace of the avant-garde works of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy).
After the Second World War many Polish writers found themselves in exile abroad, with many clustered around the Paris-based Kultura publishing venture run by Jerzy Giedroyc. The group of emigre writers included Witold Gombrowicz, Gustaw Herling Grudziński, Czesław Miłosz, and Sławomir Mrożek.
Zbigniew Herbert, Tadeusz Różewicz, Czesław Miłosz (Nobel Prize in 1980), and Wisława Szymborska (Nobel Prize in 1996) are among the most outstanding 20th-century Polish poets, novelists and playwrights, which also includes Witold Gombrowicz, Sławomir Mrożek, and Stanisław Lem (for science fiction). Hanna Krall's reportage which focuses mainly on the war-time Jewish experience, and Ryszard Kapuścinski's books have been translated into many languages.
It is difficult to grasp fully the detailed tradition of Polish Romanticism and its consequences for Polish literature without a thorough knowledge of Polish history. The music of Frederic Chopin, inspired by Polish tradition and folklore, conveys the quintessence of Romanticism. Since 1927, the Chopin International Piano Competition, one of the world's most prestigious piano competitions, has been held every five years in Warsaw. Traditional Polish music has inspired composers like Karol Szymanowski, Mieczysław Karłowicz, Witold Lutosławski, Wojciech Kilar, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, and Krzysztof Penderecki - all of whom rank among the world's most celebrated composers. Polish jazz with its special national flavour has fans and followers in many countries. The best-known jazzmen are Krzysztof Komeda, Michał Urbaniak, Adam Makowicz, and Tomasz Stańko. Successful composers of film music include Zbigniew Preisner, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, and Wojciech Kilar.
Graduates of the famous Łódź Film School include many celebrated directors, among them Roman Polański ("Knife in the Water", "Rosemary's Baby", "Frantic", "The Pianist") and Krzysztof Zanussi, a leading director of the cinema of moral anxiety of the 70s. Andrzej Wajda's films offer an insightful analysis of what is universal in the Polish experience - the struggle to maintain human dignity under circumstances, which hardly allow it. His major films (see separate list) describe the identity of many of Poland's generations. In 2000 Wajda was awarded an Oscar for his contribution to cinema. In the 90s Krzysztof Kieślowski's films (such as "The Decalogue", "The Double Life of Veronica", "Three Colours") won great popularity. Other Polish film directors such as Agnieszka Holland and Jerzy Kamiński have worked in Hollywood as well. Polish animated films - represented by Jan Lenica and Zbigniew Rybczyński (awarded an Oscar in 1983) - have a long tradition, and derivie inspiration from Poland's graphic arts.
The Polish avant-garde theatre is world-famous, with Jerzy Grotowski as its most innovative and creative representative. One of the most original twentieth-century theatre personalities was Tadeusz Kantor, painter, theoretician of drama, stage designer, and playwright, his ideas finding their culmination in the theatre of death and his most recognised production being "Umarła klasa" (Dead Class).
Poland offers a wide spectrum of cultural experience. Those interested in high culture will enjoy the renowned music festivals like Wratislavia Cantans and the Warsaw Autumn. Polish museums exhibit remarkable art collections - masterpieces including Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine in the Czartoryski Museum, Cracow; the Veit Stoss High Altar in St. Mary's Basilica, Cracow; and the Last Judgement by Hans Memling (The National Museum in Gdańsk). Ethnographic museums and open-air museums also hold attractive collections. The panorama of Polish culture is completed by a medley of local festivals.
back to top
Poland for Investors
Poland offers you exceptional business and investment opportunities. It is one of the largest members of the European Union therefore guaranties stability, security and prosperity. The business environment is friendly and provides many opportunities for success.
Poland is a very unique country located in the centre of Europe. Poland’s enormous development potential, energy and hunger for success are the core of its beating heart.
The main reasons why it is worth to consider investing in Poland are the following:
Investment Potential
Ranked 2nd in planned investments in Europe (Ernst&Young)
Ranked 7th in top 10 global investment destinations (Ernst&Young)
back to top
GDP Growth twice that of Western Europe
The Polish economy is developing much faster than the Euro zone, and more than the average of all 27 EU members (2.7%). Poland's growth has been driven to a significant extent by export growth, industrial production and investments. Employment is also increasing. The best GDP growth rate per capita in the region is the highest in Poland.
Stronger growth in real wages, improving labour market and low interest rates will lead to even greater improvement in private consumption and investment in forthcoming years. In 2006 Polish exports expanded by 19%.
GDP for 2008 is forecast at 5%. (Source: Ministry of Finance 2007)
back to top
Ranked 2nd in planned investments in Europe
Poland is seen as the top potential destination for new investment or expansion projects in Europe. According to the European Attractiveness Survey 2007 conducted by Ernst &Young, the advantages offered in terms of productivity and flexible employment conditions placed Poland in the leading position in Europe.
Considered destinations for new investment or expansion projects in Europe: Germany 20% Poland 18% Czech Republic 13% France 12% Hungary 12% United Kingdom 11% Russia 11% Source: European Attractiveness Survey 2007.
back to top
Ranked 7th in top 10 global investment destinations
According to the Ernst &Young report, executives placed Poland seventh in the world when focusing on specific countries within their region of choice for investments.
back to top
Human Capital
- 20 million young, highly educated, multilingual people
- 24 million people in working age group (61% of the population)
- Around 2 million attending higher education courses
- 448 centres of higher education
Poland has the largest working population in Central Europe as well as the youngest one in Europe
Around 47% of the population is under the age of 35 years and 32% is under 25 years of age. The young generation of Poles is one of the best educated in Europe. over 55% citizens between the ages of 20-24 attend higher education courses.
The percentage of 20-29 year olds in higher education in Poland is a massive 30.2%
Over two million young people currently studying at the higher education institutions make up almost half of the student age population. In 2006 we had 394 thousand graduates.
Poland has a nationwide network of 448 centres of higher education. There are 130 state higher education academies including 17 universities and 18 universities of technology, as well as 318 private schools of tertiary education. They employ over 100 000 academics; half of them hold a Ph.D. degree.
Every year about 240 thousand students graduate in social sciences, business and law, almost 44 thousand in engineering, manufacturing and construction, 20 thousand in science, maths and computing. Over 3 thousand people graduates from specialized language studies.
Polish Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) education centres and specialists are highly recognized worldwide. Poles are winning in the prestigious Top Coder ranking and also achieving high positions in the worldwide Google Code Jam Competition and the IBM Linux Scholars Challenge. Polish IT specialists are employed by the largest IT companies in the world. They also constitute an important share of managers responsible for research and development (R&D) activities in multinational corporations such as Microsoft and Nokia. In Silicon Valley there are 300 Polish computer scientists.
There are 20 information and telecommunications (ICT) academic centres with more than 2500 students each and 150 000 IT, computer science and telecommunication students overall.
The level of foreign language knowledge is rising fast among young Poles. The most popular foreign language is English, followed by German and Russian. 44% of Polish society is able to communicate in a foreign language, 33% speak two foreign languages. It is significant that 96.3% of students speak English.
Poles are one of the hardest working people after Koreans. According to the OECD Employment Outlook 2006, on average they worked 600 hours more in 2004 than employees in France and Germany.
Foreign investors highly rate the skills and commitment of Polish employees. In many cases the Polish subsidiaries of foreign companies were judged to be the most effective units worldwide according to their management. In the 2005 Ernst&Young report, Poland is placed fifth after Germany, UK, France and Scandinavian countries regarding labour skills level. Finding qualified managers and staff is not a problem in Poland. Rotating between various companies is common, thus professionals have very versatile skills from many sectors.
back to top
Stategic Location
Poland’s geographic location- in the heart of Europe - creates a number of opportunities, attracts investment from the Western Europe as well as from the US and Asia. It also facilitates the logistics activities related to the export of goods to all locations in Europe and to countries outside Europe. There are air, road, railway and sea connections with all major European capital cities.
Poland is situated between the highly developed Western European countries and Eastern Europe with such growing markets as Russia and the Ukraine. Investments in Poland provide the possibility for direct and easy access to 500 million people in Western Europe and 250 million in Eastern Europe. There are direct flights to major European and world cities from 11 airports. There are 3 seaports on the coast of the Baltic sea with connections to the most important seaports in the world. All forms of communication infrastructure are being improved. The road infrastructure is a priority. Thanks to the availability of EU funds the Trans-European Network as well as national roads are being constructed and upgraded.
Poland is currently becoming a key distribution centre in Europe as about 80% of modern warehouses are located around Warsaw. Also cities like Łódź, Poznan, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Katowice and other smaller towns with strategic locations are becoming important warehousing centres thanks to the development of the road infrastructure.
Warsaw remains one of the most preferred locations for investments. It was ranked second in Europe in terms of easy access to markets.
back to top
Large Growing Domestic Market
38 million consumers driving 10% annual retail market growth.
Poland with its population of 38,16 million is the largest market in Central Europe and the eighth largest on the Continent, as well as 30th in the world. Poland’s market is larger than the combined markets of all the other nine accession countries that entered the EU together with Poland in May 2004. These 38.16 million consumers drive 10% annual retail market growth.
back to top
Investment Incentives
90 billion euro available for development, infrastructure and human capital.
14 Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and Technology Parks with incentives
Poland benefits from the largest amount of EU funds of any beneficiary EU member state. Over 90 billion euro is available for development, infrastructure and human capital for 2007 -2013.
Poland welcomes foreign investors with a number of investment incentives tailored to their needs. Various forms of state aid are available including grants and tax incentives, abatements and exemptions.
In order to facilitate and support regional development 14 Special Economic Zones were created. They are designated areas in which investment activities can be conducted on preferential terms. Investors permitted to operate in the SEZ can benefit from the following:
income tax exemption – a form of regional aid land at competitive prices free assistance in dealing with formalities relating to the investment project exemption from real estate tax grants for employee training programmes grants for the creation of new jobs
back to top
Industrial Services Hub
Regional/Global Manufacturing and Services Platform Ranked 4th globally in terms of attractiveness for R&D investments European shared service centre
Poland’s attractiveness as the location for Research and Development Centres (R&D) as well as Business Process Off shoring investments (BPO) is growing fast. A number of factors including strategic location, human capital and available incentives determine that Poland is developing both a regional and global manufacturing and service platform.
International corporations are locating their Research and Development Centres in Poland. They want to use the advantages offered by competitive salaries, excellent ICT professionals, academic potential and availability of wide range of specialists. Setting up a R&D centre in Poland allows mainly for: increasing efficiency and lowering costs, as well as improving the quality of products. Currently, there are more than 40 R&D centres in Poland and their number increases each year. Investors choose Poland mainly for the availability of a highly qualified labour force, the presence of many universities and the support of the authorities. Among others, the following investors have set up their R&D centres in Poland: ABB, Avio, Fujitsu, Glaxo Smith Kline, IBM, Intel, Lincoln Electric, Motorola, Oracle, Siemens, TRW Automotive, Samsung, Microsoft Whirlpool. They experience has been very positive and results are good, thus most of them are expanding. The German based Siemens has expanded its Wrocław R&D centre and increased staff by 40%.
Poland is also seen by international corporations as an excellent location for transferring non-production functions of a company, such as accounting departments, call centres or warehouses. Poland is becoming the European centre of modern Business Process Off shoring (BPO) services.
Since 2005 investors can locate BPO resources in Special Economic Zones, which offer for example tax exemptions. Alongside accountancy and financial services, call centres are also expected to develop dynamically. Poland has the opportunity to be at the forefront of the direct foreign investments inflow into the BPO sector. Currently, the following companies, among others, have located their finance and accounting shared services in Poland: Accenture, Avon, CITI, Electrolux, Fiat, Hewlett Packard, IBM , Lufthansa, Philips, Tesco, Volvo.
back to top
Homepage
Expedia Property has also entered the Eastern European property market, as you will see we have started marketing Polish Real Estate by taking on an exciting development of Warsaw Apartments. We expect to expand our range of Poland Property in due course, the market is rapidly expanding with Polish ownership and property prices are rising. |
Brazil