A conference of the Economic Politics and Promotion of the Towns Committee of the Polish Towns Union took place between the days 20-21 November in Wieliczka. The guests of the Mayor of Wieliczka, Artur Kozioł, were the presidents and mayors of several Polish towns.

Above all the discussions pertained to the issue of promotion of the towns with the special consideration for the promotion through investments as well as development of sport.

The guests who arrived in order to participate in the two-days-long conference of the committee were welcomed in the salt town by the mayor of Wieliczka, Artur Kozioł and the Committee’s Chairman – Jacek Walczak – the President of the Town of Sieradz.

The presentation of the salt town by the Mayor of Wieliczka was an introduction to the discussion.

It pertained to the aspects of the economic as well as touristic promotion of the town as well as to recruitment of the investors and management of the investment areas.

Then the discussion and the exchange of the experiences related to the issue of promotion of the towns began.

On the second day of the meeting the subject of the conversations was “The sport and the promotion in the town”,”Sportsmen – the brand of the towns” – the issues especially up-to-date taking into consideration the European Football Championships organized by Poland and Ukraine in the year 2012.

The issue of financial support of the qualified sport and of the system of financing of the prizes in the municipal contests were also discussed upon.

In the course of the debate the representatives of the civic authorities introduced an additional problem, yet a very significant one for the residents:”The liquidation of the asbestos – are there any chances the municipalities could finance it?”.

At the end of the meeting the gathered listened to the information concerning the participation of the towns in the world fair EXPO REAL in Munich.

Of course the programme of visit of the representatives of the self-governments united by the Polish Towns Union could not fall short of a visit in the salt mine.

Some of the guests had the chance – for the first time to sightsee the saline underground.

The Polish Towns Union to which Wieliczka also belongs is an organization of rich inter-war tradition.

Presently over 309 towns are members of the union.

The union manages activities in four areas:

*Legislation lobbying (representatives of the Union are members of the Common Committee of the Territorial Government and Self-Government).

*Exchange of experiences (the Union organizes congresses, conferences, workshops and training).

*Specialist support (the union finances and renders accessible to the member towns the ordered legal expert’s reports.

*International cooperation (the union is a member of the European Municipalities and Regions Council (CEMR),bringing together municipal, district and regions organizations from over 35 European countries).

*Promotion and information (fairs, publications)

In the future Wieliczka shall certainly become the host of the subsequent meetings of the Polish Towns Union, as they make up a significant forum where experiences are being exchanged and the new self-government initiatives are being created.