The May 25 Polish Consulate event hoghlighted the presence of a delegation from Poland representing the Gateway project organized by Mr. Zdzislaw Wojtasik, the Kielce, Poland – based coordinator of the project’s development and PR manager. Along with Mr. Wojtasik, project presenters included Krzysztof Raducki, IT coordinator; Dariusz Dabek, project manager; and Boguslaw Krukowski, secretary general of the Maslow commune, who also serves as vice president of the project coordinating council.
Participants the May 25 luncheon participants also heared addresses by Zbigniew Kubacki, Minister Counselor / Head of the Trade & Investment Section at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington DC; Les Surowiec, president of PACBA; and by Iwona W. Bochenska, International Trade Specialist, IL Office of Trade & Investment. PACC vice president Stan Nowak, and board member Michael Traison, also offered their comments in relation to the project and the presentation.
The most important goal of the LCOI – Eastern European Gateway project is to increase interest in the business and tourism opportunities of eastern Poland based on the independent and cooperative activities of the newly-established Local Investor Service Centers (LISC). All five voivodeships that belong to the sector designated as Eastern Poland will benefit from the project.
The intended objectives of the project include: (1) creation of a network of closely cooperating local investor service offices in eastern Region of Poland, particularly in rural areas and municipalities with a population of 20,000 or less; (2) collaboration with existing Centers of Investor Services, which are partners of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ); (3) cooperation between the newly-established LISC’s and local government agencies, centers of export and tourism promotion. These include Polish embassies and consulates abroad, as well as business organizations, especially the Chicago-based PACC; and (4) facilitation of widespread access to and use of e-communication as well as regional relationships to international partners to increase the investment and tourist appeal of eastern Poland.
The Project will include the establishment of the LCOI (LISC) Vortal, a unique European-wide professional Internet-based business search engine and an instrument of automated communication and Internet-based presentation utilizing its own in-house technological solutions and the newest Microsoft and Google products; a question and access generator; an Economic Atlas of Eastern Poland; a GPS-based ‘Auto Business Navigator; and an e-B2B and Business Forum, based on the latest IT communication technology.
Five LISC’s have been established in the voivodeships of Eastern Poland, with the Center of Operations located in the city of Kielce. The Project was proposed by the Association Lysa Gora Local Activity Group, located in the Bieliny commune. The Association includes seven member communes and several Local Activity Groups. Their key representatives attended the May 25 presentation as part of the delegation headed by Zdzislaw Wojtasik, who also authored the successful grant application to secure the EU funding for the project.
The agreement with the Applicant was signed on December 15, 2009, and according to Wojtasik, “was the first such agreement in the country.”
“We are also very pleased that our project proposal received the highest rating in Poland among those submitted,” adds Wojtasik.
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As the voice of Polish American business men and women, the PACC is dedicated to serving their best interests through education on current trends and facilitating commercial contacts. The organization is at the forefront at encouraging and promoting domestic and foreign trade to benefit its members, and to contribute to the expansion and integration of the Polish and Polish American business communities in the U.S. and abroad.