The two-day 60 Million Conference in the village of Jasionka in Poland's southeastern Podkarpacie province has brought together successful businesspeople, politicians and media personalities to discuss efforts to build a positive image of the country internationally, the PAP news agency reported.
Andrzej Stanisławek, a senator with Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, told participants that efforts to promote Poland abroad should reflect its long fight for sovereignty and its centuries-long history of tolerance and Christian identity.
Investment and Development Minister Jerzy Kwieciński said that Poland was a safe country and that its image abroad “translates into real money and the value of the Polish brand.”
Kwieciński added that Poland needed “good ambassadors” to show it at its best abroad.
Anna Maria Anders, the Polish government’s pointwoman on international dialogue, urged moves to ensure positive Polish lobbying around the world, the PAP news agency reported.
Meanwhile, award-winning American television journalist Rita Cosby, daughter of a Danish mother and a Polish father, said Poland needed stronger lobbying efforts to get its message across to international audiences, according to PAP.
The 60 Million Conference, sub-headlined Global Polonia Summit, featured more than a dozen panel discussions on Thursday and Friday.
According to some estimates, Polonia, or the Polish community abroad, numbers around 20 million people, half the country’s population.
Poles make up the largest foreign group in Britain and are a noticeable presence in the United States.
A record 1.02 million Poles lived in Britain at the end of 2017, constituting the largest national minority in that country, according to the UK Office for National Statistics.
The midwestern US city of Chicago is said to be home to the world’s second-largest population of Poles after Warsaw.
(gs/pk)
Source: PAP