Residents of rural areas need the development of infrastructure, access to good education, broadband Internet, in short – they need conditions to be able to compete with residents of large cities in terms of quality of life, said the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda. The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Environment Henryk Kowalczyk and Vice–Minister Małgorzata Golińska.

This initiative is extremely important, since it shows what actions we take and what efforts we make to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of the Polish rural areas, emphasised Minister Kowalczyk. During the meeting, the Minister of Environment highlighted the activities taking place as part of the Clean Air Programme, which are extremely significant for the residents of rural areas and thanked local governments and authorities for their feedback concerning the improvement of the programme, shared during the series of conferences. The programme enjoys great popularity, he pointed out. Nearly 53,000 applications for subsidies were already submitted, many of which came from residents of villages and rural areas, who want to carry out thermal modernisation of their buildings or replace their obsolete heating boilers.

About the conference

The series of conferences entitled Prospects for the Rural Population, organised at the initiative of the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda is a project, the aim of which was to present activities undertaken by the state to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of rural areas in Poland. It was also an opportunity for a joint discussion with local authorities, who had the opportunity to present their proposals and requests. Thirteen ministries were involved in the project, including the Ministry of the Environment and the National Support Centre for Agriculture.