Poland was one of 49 countries from all over the world that took part in this event. All in all 1400 delegates were present. The meeting was arranged by the Union of Local Authorities in Israel as part of celebrations marking its 70 anniversary this year which coincides with the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel.
As a rule, most of the delegates came from towns and cities which are in partnership with Israeli localities. Of the 25 or so Polish urban centres represented, 15 have been twinned with Israeli towns and cities for some time. All are also affiliated to the Association of Polish Cities which has been collaborating with its Israeli counterpart, the Union of Local Authorities in Israel, for nearly two decades. A new twinning agreement was signed between the Polish city of Poznań and Ra’anany on March 14. As a result of talks held during the conference, two or three such agreements are to be signed later this year. Ryszard Grobelny, the President of the Association of Polish Cities told Polish Market that more urban partnerships between Poland and Israel as well as in many other countries are on their way.
During the conference the role of local government in providing a significant body of services to the community and in meeting the challenges involved was discussed. Those taking part in the debate stressed throughout that local government was a basic tenet of democracy and a vital tool in developing towns and cities and improving the life quality of their population. Polish delegates took an active part in the conference and accompanying six workshops on local governments’ ways of solving problems facing local communities. Tadeusz Wrona, the President of Częstochowa, a city of 240.000 inhabitants renowned as a Roman Catholic pilgrimage site attracting 4.5 million visitors each year, presented his local government’s ambitious plans to develop the city in more fields than just those just confined to services for pilgrims. To this end, he said, the city is looking for investors to develop public utilities, environmental protection facilities and IT-based services. At a workshop devoted to local government leadership as a base for national leadership, Marek Woźniak, the chairman of the Poznań Province Assembly pointed out partly in reference to his own experience that learning the ropes of government at the lowest level of administration is the best way to develop the skills needed to for work in central administration and to run the country. That was a point of view shared by many others.
The conference delegates endorsed the idea of cooperation between cities the world over and stressed the vital role of town twinning in these endeavours. In a declaration adopted at the end of the meeting those gathered agreed that the establishment of more and more Sister Cities serves best to “build a network of cooperation, respect between cultures and religions, understanding and trust as well as to bring people together for a dialogue notwithstanding their political or any other differences”. The declaration underlined in particular the importance of “promoting the exchange of young people within the framework of twinning agreements in order to foster friendship between nations”.
Almost all the Polish towns and cities twinned with Israeli counterparts were featured in the March edition of “Polish Market” published especially for the occasion partly in Hebrew and distributed at the convention. It is noteworthy, that Poland was the only country to prepare such a special publication for the event. The magazine focussing on the Polish economy, investment opportunities as well as culture and tourism aroused considerable interest among the delegates.

Polish-Israeli Business Forum
Prospects for economic cooperation and investments between Poland and Israel were high on the agenda of a business forum held in Tel Aviv on March 13. Some 60-odd businessmen from both countries took part. Polish and Israeli forum participants were agreed that the potential for developing this cooperation was immense and had been tapped so far only to a very small extent.
The Forum was convened by the Israel-Poland Chamber of Commerce in Tel Aviv. Opening the forum its president Henryk Lewinski described the economies of both countries as complementary and absorptive with vast opportunities opening up for Israeli investors especially in developing Poland’s IT, security-related high–technology, telecommunications, renewable energy, pharmaceutical and food processing sectors as well as hospitality and ecological services.
Polish businessmen and local government leaders attending the meeting stressed the favourable climate in Poland for foreign investors and said they were looking for more Israeli investments. Likewise, several Israeli businessmen spoke of their interest to invest particularly in fields such as office construction, road building and the hospitality sector.

Ms Krystyna Trzosek-Woźniak, the editor-in-chief of “Polish Market” with Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, during his encounter with the conference delegates

Polish Ambasador to Israel Agnieszka Magdziak-Miszewska (third from left), Płońsk city mayor Andrzej Józef Pietrasik (second from left), “Polish Market” Editor-in-Chief Krystyna Woźniak-Trzosek (left)

Conference participants attending
a ceremony at the Peace Forest
in Jerusalem

Polish Ambassador to Israel Agnieszka Magdziak-Miszewska and former Israeli Ambassador to Poland Shevah Weiss