The meeting of the West Pomerania branch of SPCC held on 10 December in Radisson BLU in Szczecin provided an opportunity to sum up the Scandinavian and Polish business cooperation in the region. As the Christmas is coming, following the official part, the participants listened to a carol concert by the Szczecin boy choir “Słowiki”.

SPCC Szczecin has 29 member firms and the list of member candidates keeps getting longer. The region houses several hundred companies operating in the marine, IT and renewable resources industries which have capital ties with the Scandinavian countries: Tieto (IT), Abena (diapers, sanitary products), HG Poland (equipment for breeding fur animals), Novasol (rental of summer houses) and Danish Coloplast, planning to open an accounting centre in Szczecin, to name a few.

“This has been a good year, though a lot more could have been done. We managed to start cooperation with the region’s authorities and we can now encourage investors to place their businesses in West Pomerania. We appeared in the media and took part in a public debate concerning teaching Scandinavian languages and Szczecin strategy,” sums up Kaare Nordbo who manages the Szczecin branch of SPCC. “Next year we want to hold meetings not only in Szczecin, but also in other cities in the region. We also plan to get some members from Gorzów.”

The region’s authorities also see the need for contacts with Scandinavian entrepreneurs. SPCC cooperates with the Investor Assistance Centre at the Marshal’s Office.

“The key investments in the region are the Japanese Bridgestone,  the Danish LM Glasfiber and Finnish Cargotec. The Cargotec plant will hire 300 people. It is the largest greenfield investment in Poland in 2009,” says Witold Jabłoński, Vice-Marshal of the West Pomerania Region, and adds that talks with other investor are underway.

mab