On September 3–5, Karpacz will host the XXXIII Economic Forum, an event that first took place in 1992. At that time, it was a small Poland-East Forum. Currently, the event is one of the largest and most important meetings of its kind in Central and Eastern Europe.
The Economic Forum was conceived by Zygmunt Berdychowski, Chairman of the Program Council, and organized by the Foundation Institute for Eastern Studies. Until 2019, the event was held in Krynica-Zdrój in Małopolska, but the coronavirus pandemic caused the event to be moved to Karpacz in Lower Silesia. The region is currently its main partner.
As defined by the organizers, “The mission of the Forum is to build a friendly climate for the development of political and economic cooperation between the European Union countries and their neighbors. In fulfilling its mission, the Forum is independent and impartial.” Among the main topics of discussion are security, economic development, the most important and current processes, trends and challenges. International opinion-forming dailies, such as “Le Monde” and “Le Soir”, among others, have called the event “Davos of the East.” As the organizers point out, Poland must have institutions whose horizon of activity is longer than the time a given political team has been in power. Only this gives a chance for real problem solving. Therefore, places are needed where people talk to each other, this is the Polish raison d’état.
An important stage in the history of the Forum was marked by the enlargement of the European Union with the participation of Poland in 2004. It became a kind of bridge between the East and the West. Then, 20 years ago, the Presidents of Poland and Lithuania, Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Valdas Adamkus, took part in the Forum. The motto was: “European challenges – security, solidarity, efficiency”, and there was much talk about, among other things, the need to anchor Ukraine in European structures and the importance of integration.
The slogan of this year’s Economic Forum, “Time for new leaders: shaping the future together”, refers to dynamic changes and key processes on both a global and local scale. Last year, the theme was “New values of the Old Continent – Europe on the threshold of change”. It is worth recalling that 2023 brought important electoral decisions on the Old Continent, and 2024 – elections to the European Parliament. The XXXII Economic Forum was attended by a record number of 6,000 guests.
Since its inception, the Economic Forum has created a platform for discussion between leaders from the worlds of politics, business, science, culture and media. The guests from the world of politics included (in alphabetical order) Valdas Adamkus (President of Lithuania), José María Aznar (Prime Minister of Spain), José Manuel Barroso (Prime Minister of Portugal and President of the European Commission), Jerzy Buzek (Prime Minister of the Polish Government and President of the European Parliament), Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (opposition member, candidate for the President of Belarus), Norman Davis (historian), Andrzej Duda (President of the Polish Republic), Mikuláš Dzurinda (Prime Minister of Slovakia), Dalia Grybauskaitė (President of Lithuania), Václav Havel (President of the Czech Republic), Viktor Yushchenko (Prime Minister and President of Ukraine), Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Bronisław Komorowski (Presidents of the Polish Republic), Vytautas Landsbergis (leader of independent Lithuania after 1990), Mario Monti (Prime Minister of Italy), Leszek Miller, Mateusz Morawiecki (Prime Ministers of the Polish governments). RP), Petro Poroshenko (President of Ukraine), Donald Tusk (Prime Minister of Poland and President of the European Council), Lech Wałęsa (President of Poland), José Luis Zapatero (Prime Minister of Spain).
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