The second edition of the “Europe – Poland – Ukraine. Rebuild Together” conference in a nutshell:
Business cooperation between Poland and Ukraine in the context of reconstruction and development

In the second part of July 2023, the 2nd edition of “Europe – Poland – Ukraine. Rebuild Together” took place, organised jointly by the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers and the Warsaw Enterprise Institute. In spite of the peak holiday date, the event at the Hilton Hotel in Warsaw was attended by approx. 1,000 guests from Poland and abroad. This record attendance is testament to the high demand for meeting platforms dedicated to the development of Polish-Ukrainian business.

Politicians and experts from Poland, Brussels, Ukraine and Moldova took part in five plenary and four industry sessions as part of the conference. Cezary Kaźmierczak, the President of Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers ZPP, opened the event on a high note, stating that in case of the willingness to enter the Ukrainian market, “it is better to be first than best”. Foreign companies with large capital have already undertaken expansion operations in Ukraine and the ongoing war has thus far failed to prevent them from gaining a strategic foothold for their interests. Other guests, among them heads and secretaries of state from Polish and Ukrainian ministries, representatives of Polish and international financial institutions, or CEOs and presidents of associations, discussed the prospects of reconstruction, based on such factors as immense financial resources allocated for this purpose by international organisations. There were also separate sessions for specific industry sectors: energy, pharmaceutical, and digital, as well as for the labour market, attended by experts and decision makers from Poland and Ukraine.

The conference was summarised in the speech by Marcin Przydacz, Secretary of State and Head of the Office of International Policy in the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, who presented three advantages Polish companies have over other countries in reconstruction efforts of Ukraine:

1. in geographical terms, Poland is Ukraine’s closest partner with an infrastructure ready at its neighbour’s disposal,
2. both countries boast the best relations ever in history,
3. the two nations are culturally and linguistically close, and Ukrainians make up the largest minority in Poland.

ZPP President Cezary Kaźmierczak then added, “Whoever is first on the Ukrainian market, they will have the most time to dominate it”.

Such events as “Europe – Poland – Ukraine. Rebuild Together” are proof of the demand for reliable and up-to-date information about the Ukrainian market and of the need for a platform to establish direct business relations between partners from both countries. ZPP has been active in this field for years and is the only Polish association of entrepreneurs supporting business relations through its offices in Kyiv, Lviv, Lutsk and Vinnytsia, also representing Polish-Ukrainian joint ventures through its office in Brussels.