On November 16, 2007, hundreds of guests gathered in the majestic ballroom of the Royal Castle in Warsaw to attend a festive Laureates Gala during which the results were announced of this year’s edition of the Pearls of the Polish Economy ranking. The ranking has been organized for five years now by “Polish Market” in collaboration with the Institute of Economics at the Polish Academy of Sciences (INE PAN) to distinguish Poland’s economically most effective companies. The honorary patronage was assumed by the Minister of the Economy and Danuta Hübner, the EU Commissioner for Regional Policy. >>

Opening the gala celebration, the “Polish Market’s” Editor-in-Chief Krystyna Woźniak-Trzosek observed that companies which met the highly rigorous and hard-to-meet ranking criteria defined by PAN economic scientists have fully deserved the title of the Pearls of the Polish Economy to be awarded to them that evening. >>

Ludwik Sobolewski,Presidentof the WarsawStock Exchange.Q: The farmer Minister of the Treasury and before that the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission observed that the Stock Exchange is not just an element of the Polish economy but represents Poland’s raison d’état. Isn’t that a burdening responsibility?A: It is, and quite great. The stock market is – on one hand – an essential component of the country’s economy. Suffice to say that the value of all listed companies exceeds 50% of Poland’s GDP. So the WSE does not only reflect the current condition of the Polish economy, it does not only register the country’s economic growth rate achieved but also co-generates this growth. On the other hand, there is the immense social aspect of the stock market since it bears on the life and life quality of all who have put their trust in it. >>

Professor Alicja Chybicka MD (head of the Department and Clinic of Paediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation, Oncology and Haematology at Wrocław Medical University in Wrocław): “I have been involved in science for 32 years. In my specific field, research success is tantamount to saving human life. I and my team have such success to our credit. Our success story entails saving the life of a child. That of a teen-age boy who was in the fourth stage of cancer, had gone through two transplants and was under palliative care. We saved his life after applying gene therapy. That scientific achievement of ours won an award at an international oncology congress. I felt proud as a Pole. With that achievement, we have outdistanced countries much better equipped financially for scientific research. >>