BALTEXPO'2002

09.09.2002

On 3-6 September this year Gdansk was playing host to the 9^th International Maritime Fair BALTEXPO'2002. The Fair gathered a number of 321 participants representing 16 countries. Over a half of the exhibition space was taken by foreign businesses. The international offer presentation was based on national exhibition stands that this year were provided by Germany, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Norway. Participating in the event there were also businesses representing i.a. Canada - the first time ever, France, Japan. Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Russia - back after a few years' absence, Sweden, Ukraine, the United States, Austria, Great Britain and, of course, Poland. The major industries represented at the Fair included: ship building, repairs and refurbishment; ship equipment; on-board machinery, ship engines, ship coatings; ports and port services, terminals; shipping lines; maritime publishing houses. The BALTEXPO Fair is the world's third largest fair event of the kind.

The Fair had been organized under the honorary auspices of: President of the Polish Republic Aleksander Kwasniewski, Prime Minister Leszek Miller, Marshal of the Senate of the Polish Republic Longin Pastusiak, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Infrastructure Marek Pol, Minister of Economy Jacek Piechota, Governer of the Pomerania Province Jan Ryszard Kurylczyk and the City Mayor of Gdansk Pawel Adamowicz.

This year, similarly to the last year's edition, the Port of Gdansk Authority SA held a joint exhibition stand with the Municipal Office of Gdansk. On behalf of the Port of Gdansk Authority SA the stand was hosted by Andrzej Kasprzak - President of the Board and Tomasz Globinski - Vice-President of the Board, whereas the Municipality of Gdansk was represented by Jan J. Stoppa - Deputy Mayor for Economy. Additionally, the stand accommodated representatives of the major port companies: Port of Gdansk Cargo Logistics and Gdansk Container Terminal.

The BALTEXPO Fair provided the opportunity to the Port of Gdansk Authority SA to hold a meeting with Marek Szymonski - Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Infrastructure, who expressed his support of the projected container terminal development at the Port of Gdansk. Mr. Szymonski admitted that at the Ministry a number of talks were held with the investor, who submitted an offer on the container terminal development at the Port of Gdansk, which resulted in the increasingly more encouraging perspectives for the implementation of this project.
Moreover, a jointly held exhibition stand of the Port of Gdansk and the City of Gdansk attracted a number of guests: Andrzej Gdula - Head of the Maritime Transport Department at the Ministry of Infrastructure, Pawel Adamowicz - City Mayor of Gdansk and Tadeusz Goclowski - Archbishop Metropolitan of Gdansk.

The Port of Gdansk Authority SA participation in the event was first and foremost an opportunity to introduce the business offer of the Port of Gdansk in a comprehensive form, as well as to present Port's recent achievements and accomplishments. The greatest interest among the co-operating partners focused on the launch of a new Gdansk - Trelleborg - Copenhagen ferry service that is to be serviced by a recently developed Westerplatte Ferry Terminal, and, on a decision to expand the Port Free Zone. The exhibition stand held by the Port of Gdansk Authority SA provided an adequate surroundings for holding face-to-face talks, and, owing to the use of advanced multimode computer technologies, was an opportunity to view the website of the Port of Gdansk, the port and the city presentation, as well as a film featuring the City of Gdansk.

The exhibition stand provided by the Port of Gdansk Authority SA raised a great interest among the visitors to the Fair and drew their attention. The explicit arrangement design of the stand won the appreciation of the Polish Chamber of Maritime Commerce and was awarded a special prize.

Alongside the Fair there was a number of accompanying events such as i.a. a conference "Maritime Economy - in search for solutions" on ports development, liner shipping, port free zones and road infrastructure, as well as a meeting held by the Exhibitors' Club with the participation of Maciej Lesny - Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Economy and Marek Szymonski - Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Infrastructure.