During the opening of the conference President of PAIiIZ, Paweł Wojciechowski PhD, emphasised that the idea of the meeting originated in the Bureau of the Opole Voivodship in Warsaw as one of numerous promotional initiatives of the region. - The Opole region has been exceptionally effective in the field of economic promotion. Results of such activities may be seen, among other things, in the form of over 80 investment lots listed in the PAIiIZ databases and prepared for investors interested in the region. - the President said.
Minister Rafał Baniak paid special attention to the efficiency of the co-operation with the Ministry and the PAIiIZ which does result in effective promotion of the region among foreign investors. It is thanks to the activities that the region ranks high in the lists of investor-friendly provinces in the country. - The co-operation is exemplary largely due to the efforts made by the local authorities. - said Minister Rafał Baniak.
Marzena Szewczuk-Stępień PhD, Head of the Academic Enterprise Incubator at the Opole University of Technology discussed aspects of co-operation between private sector and R&D centres as well as presented opportunities of starting up business activity by young people. A promotional film of the voivodship, presented by the Vice Marshal, Mr Józef Kotyś forms part of the promotional campaign and was presented during the conference. The film highlights the region’s multicultural dimension and the openness of the region’s residents, their entrepreneurial spirit and the features of the voivodship that determine the region’s investment attractiveness. Thanks to the film participants could listen to experiences and opinions expressed by the representatives of Cadbury and Nutricia, two out of many investors who opted for Opole in the last years.
The region’s Marshal, Józef Kotyś, presented the region, its economic and social potential and the advantages of its geographic location. The region, being one of the two smallest provinces in the country and in Europe, successfully manages to remain competitive in terms of economic indicators and living standards. Positive image of the region is confirmed by a substantial growth in start-ups, the region’s 4th position in the PAIiIZ investment database in terms of a number of investment offers and the fact that one fourth of the region’s youth continues education at local universities.
The aim of the conference consisted in highlighting the attractive aspects of the region and its economic potential together with the presentation of investment offers for selected sectors as well as in spreading experiences of the largest investing players on the Opole market. Among the most important aspects attracting foreign investments there is the convenient location, the vicinity of Poland’s two neighbours i.e. Germany and the Czech Republic, localisation of three special economic zones, two technology parks, big potential and easy access to highly-qualified workers and well-developed transport infrastructure, particularly the A4 motorway crossing the region.
Investors’ interest in the voivodship is confirmed by the substantial number of investment project realised in the region in the last couple of years. In fact, 128 companies invested over a billion USD in the region. It is also worth emphasising that thanks to the region’s authorities, who perceive economic promotion to be of utmost importance for any kind of development, a Bureau of the Opole Voivodship has been operating in Warsaw for the last four years. Also since the year 2001 the region’s Information Point has been opened in Brussels and a special Bureau for Economic Co-operation in Frankfurt has been responsible for Polish-German contacts.
Source: PAIiIZ
