The main goal of the conference was to agree on the directions of development for the OSCE countries, which, after being formulated as a decision, will be adopted by the organization during the Polish presidency in 2022. They are primarily related to supporting sustainable economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic and economic growth by promoting investments, good governance and fight against corruption and by facilitating trade, transport, entrepreneurship and business development.

Another priority that was particularly emphasized by deputy minister Golecki during his speech is to strengthen the development of human capital as a method for stimulating employment, competitiveness and social activation.

We recognize the key role of basic structural policies that ensure the optimal allocation of production factors, promote competition in markets and access to capital, improve the skills of workers, and create the right conditions for business by supporting digitization processes.",

said deputy minister Golecki.

The talks in Vienna also addressed the issues of promoting digital and technological innovations, with a special focus on environmental protection and sustainable use of natural resources.

Strengthening the cooperation in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources serves the pro-environmental changes in the economics of the OSCE countries”, emphasized the deputy minister. “However we need to remember that any specific recommendations should be driven by specific national conditions and pandemic experience. Thanks to such flexible politics we will be able to respond to changing conditions and provide stability for further development.”

This year, during its chairmanship Poland intends to intensively promote solutions and good practices to strengthen the cooperation between the countries. Additionally, financial support is planned for projects implemented in selected OSCE countries, including in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the South Caucasus, which will reflect the priorities of our chairmanship in the Organisation.

The economic and environmental dimension was also given special attention by deputy minister Mariusz Jerzy Golecki during his bilateral talks with Florian Frauscher, head of the section for business location, innovation and internationalization from the Austrian ministry for digital and economic affairs.

Austria is Poland’s important trading partner and, which is worth noting, has a large investment potential”,

emphasized undersecretary of state Mariusz Golecki.

In Vienna the deputy minister of economic development and technology also met Karlheinz Kopf, general secretary of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Commerce, to discuss, among other things, the topic of the Productivity Strategy 2030.

In the Productivity Strategy 2030 we have designed actions aimed to create modern economy based on knowledge and innovative digital technologies. We want to help entrepreneurs move up the production chains. The way to do this is to shift to more advanced tasks and to manufacture more complex products. Companies that take advantage of the opportunities offered by the digitization of production gain tangible economic benefits. That is why we want to support our entrepreneurs in that transformation. Thanks to the Productivity Strategy entrepreneurs will receive direct financial support in the digital transformation for example in purchasing robots or training their staff, but they will also benefit from a developing ecosystem comprising digital education, access to data, activities of industrial clusters and business environment institutions”,

said Mariusz Jerzy Golecki, deputy minister of economic development and technology responsible for implementing the Strategy.

The Economic and Environmental Forum is the key event of the OSCE’s 2nd dimension of security. The meeting in Vienna was primarily devoted to aspects related to the economic dimension of post-pandemic recovery, trade, transport, investments and financial support and to issues of economic nature related to counteracting the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The second conference of the Forum will be held in May in Łódź and will mainly focus on environmental and technological issues and energy transformation. The third, concluding conference will be held in Prague this year.