BUSINESS GUIDE
PRZEWODNIK INFORMACYJNY
Investment landscape Ta b l e
o f
c o n t e n t s
Embassies ........................................................194 Chambers of Commerce ....................................198 Regional Municipal Authorities ...........................199 Government Agencies .......................................200
S p i s
t r e ś c i
SHUTTERSTOCK
Ambasady ........................................................194 Izby handlowe ...................................................198 Jednostki administracji terenowej ......................199 Instytucje państwowe ........................................200
A
voivodship is the highest-level administrative subdivision in Poland. Reforms enacted in 1999 carved out 16 new voivodships, which replaced the much smaller 49 that had been in place since 1975. Poland’s voivodships vary when it comes to their level of development, wages as well as in economic potential. The western
side of Poland is better-developed and wealthier and is often referred to as “Poland A” while the eastern, poorer regions are sometimes referred to as “Poland B.” Both sides have their advantages: the western regions have more developed infrastructure and more affluent citizens, while the eastern regions offer low-cost labor and often offer more generous investment incentives than the western voivodships. Investing in Poland’s eastern regions affords investors direct access to foreign markets located to the country’s east such as Ukraine and Russia while investing in the western regions offers access to both the Czech Republic and Germany, Poland’s largest trading partner and Europe’s strongest economy. Poland has several methods of supporting investment and businesses but these can vary greatly from voivodship to voivodship. So the choice of where to locate your business should be considered carefully and all the options should be weighed. The Euro 2012 football championship, co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine served to significantly improve infrastructure in the country general, particularly in Poland’s host cities of Gdańsk, Poznań, Warsaw and Wrocław. For example, Poland’s capital Warsaw is now connected to Berlin by the A2 highway. Airports located in or near many of the host cities were also expanded significantly. Poland’s high concentration of well-educated, multilingual graduates have given rise to increased investment in business process outsourcing and the technology sector throughout Poland, but particularly in regional cities like Kraków, Wrocław and Gdańsk. Investment authorities in many of Poland’s cities and regions have the express aim of attracting more of these types of investment in order to diversify away from traditional industries.
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