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From Fairy Tale Land to Europe
Panorama talks with Józef Gajewski,
Mayor of Suwałki
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- Could you briefly outline
the profile of Suwałki?
- Suwałki located on the Czarna Hańcza River close
to the border with Lithuania, Russia and Belarus
is the second largest town in the Podlaskie Province.
It is surrounded by picturesque Suwałki Landscape
Park and the Wigry National Park with a unique
water reservoir; Lake Wigry. Suwałki is an outing
base to the most attractive places of the region.
Tourists can find there information on major tourist
attractions, recreation base and accommodation
and catering facilities. Some local restaurants
specialize in regional dishes. You can try there
such local specialties as tree cake, kartacze,
potato sausage or delicious fish with which neighbouring
lakes are abundant.
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Impreza plenerowa w centrum Suwałk/
An outdoor event in downtown Suwałki
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- What are strategic directions for the
development of the town? What kind of town is
Suwałki?
- The town is increasingly attractive for investors
and visitors and the comfort of living is consistently
improving there. We are overcoming the downturn
caused by the 1998 decision on the liquidation
of the Suwałki Province. We no longer want to
depend on the -whim- of some politicians who in
line with non-comprehensible rules take decisions
on changing the country's administrative division.
Therefore, we develop our position on a solid
basis, irrespective of the fact if Suwałki receives
the approval of authorities at some administrative
level or not. It is possible thanks to our membership
in the European Union.
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Ulica Kościuszki po renowacji/
Kościuszki St. after the renovation
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Stoisko z produktami regionalnymi/
A regional product stand
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- How does Suwałki benefit from Poland's
accession to the European Union?
- We realise that Poland's five minutes' that
has taken place after our country's entry to the
European Union will not last forever. This is
why investments carried out with the support of
the European Union are our priority. And so far,
we have been successful with that. In 2004 and
2005, Suwałki took the first place in the rating
of the Wspólnota magazine among Polish county
capitals as far as the acquisition of funds from
external sources per capita is concerned. And
most importantly, the image of our town changes
and the living standards for local residents improve.
- What changes are planned in Suwałki in the
coming years?
- The Town of Suwałki has prepared documentation
regarding investments worth PLN 500m. Obviously,
the delivery of such a large scope of investments
has to be spread over a few years' time and it
is possible only with the use of EU funds. The
Town of Suwałki will, first of all, concentrate
on the reconstruction of Reja Street and modernization
of transportation routes, the construction of
an Aqua Park, concert and theater hall, sports
and entertainment hall, the development of investment
area in the Scientific and Technological Park,
as well as in the Suwałki Special Economic Zone,
the revitalization of the downtown Suwałki, and
the expansion of the town's monitoring system.
- Suwałki has recently received several titles
and awards.
- Indeed, we have been awarded the Fair Play Municipality
certificate, the badge from the National Environmental
Protection and Water Management Fund for the achievements
in the area of the development of a system for
environmental protection financing. We have been
awarded the Safe Municipality title in the competition
organised by the Ministry of the Interior and
Administration. We have obtained the Best Town
title in the rating of local authorities staged
by Rzeczpospolita daily in the category of investments
in environmental protection and the acquisitions
of EU funds by county capitals.
- How does Józef Gajewski see Suwałki in a
few years time?
- I want Suwałki to be a modern, optimistic, and
focused on the future town, which invests in science
and technology. Ihope it will be an open town,
which offers growing opportunities to its residents.
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