The 26th Welconomy Forum in Toruń included a panel on Poland’s economic cooperation with Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Dr hab. Piotr H. Skarżyński, Associate Professor at the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, shared experience of running medical facilities and supporting scientific development in these regions.
Andrzej Jonas, Editor-in-Chief of The Warsaw Voice, moderated the discussion. Speakers included representatives of government agencies, universities and chambers of commerce, and Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Poland. Prof. Piotr H. Skarżyński represented Polish medicine, focusing on experience of cooperation with Kazakhstan.
‘Modern, excellently equipped medical facilities have been established in Kazakhstan through cooperation with Austrian and German organisations and companies and European project support. Yet they often, colloquially speaking, “stand empty”. Kazakhstan faces a shortage of qualified medical staff and, equally importantly, organisational know-how for establishing and effectively delivering long-term patient care. Fortunately, local decision-makers recognise this challenge and are ready to act to improve access to medical services,’ said Prof. Piotr H. Skarżyński.
Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Poland, Margulan Baimukhan, expressed similar views about the economy’s wider challenges. He stressed that free markets and private ownership were relatively new concepts in his country and that deeply rooted entrepreneurial attitudes were lacking. This made the experience European partners, including those from Poland, could bring to cooperation particularly valuable.
Dr Zbigniew Girzyński of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń emphasised that Polish science and medicine could and should lead Poland’s economic and political cooperation with Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Jacek Piechota and Sławomir Majman highlighted how political and administrative stability affects Polish ventures in the East. Rapidly changing local conditions can deter entrepreneurs from taking the risk of leaving their safe ‘European cocoon’, even when the potential profits are substantial.
The panel ‘Assessment of Poland’s economic cooperation with Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan’ formed part of the 26th Welconomy Forum in Toruń. Andrzej Jonas, Editor-in-Chief of The Warsaw Voice, moderated. Speakers were Margulan Baimukhan, Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Poland; Dr Zbigniew Girzyński, Nicolaus Copernicus University; Piotr Guzowski, President of the Polish–Kazakh Chamber of Commerce; Sławomir Majman, adviser to the President of Employers of Poland and President of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency in 2009–2016; Jacek Piechota, President of the Polish–Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce; Dr hab. Piotr Skarżyński, Associate Professor at IFPS and Director of Science and Development at the Institute of Sensory Organs in Kajetany; and Kazimierz Zdunowski, President of the Polish–Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Further information and reports are available on the organiser’s website: www.welconomy.pl
