On 23rd September 1922 the Parliament passed the Act on Construction of the Port in Gdynia, Pomerania Region, as a Public Port. The construction of the port of Gdynia, a project of nation-wide importance, paid for itself even before the World War II, while having played the role of catalyst for social energy and patriotism. It was thanks to Gdynia that Poles started believing they could achieve the wildest dreams and face the most ambitious challenges of the 20th century.

The Gdynia port has always been Poland's gateway to the world. Gdynia is situated at the crossroads of international rail, road and sea transportation routes linking Poland with all major cities of the continent.

In 1918, after 123 years of partition, Poland regained independence. Under the agreements of the Versailles Treaty the country also gained access to the sea. But Poland still had to fight for its economic independence. The construction of a naval base and commercial port being the road to independence and prosperity became a priority. A small fishing village called Gdynia was chosen as the location for Poland's national port - the largest investment of the inter-war years. Within no more than 15 years the village was transformed into a modern, buoyant city of over 120 thousand inhabitants - a city open to the world. From these years onwards Gdynia has developed to become the symbol of entrepreneurial activities, a synonym of success. Today, the residents of Gdynia are the third or even fourth generation of the founders and constructors of the city - the successors of people that linked their future with Gdynia determined to succeed there. Romancing Gdynia. And like their ancestors before them, today's entrepreneurial inhabitants of Gdynia are the proof of the city's attractiveness and openness.

Gdynia was built at an amazing pace and from scratch. And like America - built by immigrants - Gdynia was built by newcomers from all over Poland as well as from abroad. The comparison may seem to be an exaggeration but toutes les proportions gardee Gdynia can be compared to American towns - maybe most of all to San Francisco. Like San Francisco, Gdynia is located on forested hills with a blue bay at its feet. And both cities are synonyms of success and of modernity.

The directions and aims of Gdynia's economic development were elaborated and approved in 1998 by the City Council in "Strategic Development Plan for Gdynia" - a document updated and revised in 2003. The document fulfils all requirements and basic standards of European Union's documents with a set time horizon of ten and more years. The strategic plan is compatible with the Pomeranian Development Strategy - optimising the city's development opportunities and enhancing the success of its implementation.

The diversification of the city's economy, its openness to innovations, and new technology and services in the fields of the traditional branches of industry as well as the emerging ones are the elaborated strategic goals for Gdynia. Increasing the city's accessibility - connecting Gdynia by road, sea and rail with major economic centres in Poland, the Baltic Sea Region and European Union countries - is yet another priority. In elaborating the city's priorities, consideration was given to such mega trends of world economy like globalisation and information society in order to strengthen Gdynia's metropolitan functions as a part of the Tri-City conurbation area. Special attention is also paid to the development of tourism functions.

Gdynia's local authorities undertake numerous initiatives to stimulate entrepreneurial activities of its citizens and to attract inward investments. One of such initiatives is a long-term, complex programme "Entrepreneurial Gdynia". The main components of the programme are: The Pomeranian Science and Technology Park; The Pomeranian Vocational Village - an advisory body stimulating and enabling entrepreneurial conducts; The Pomeranian Regional Credit Fund for SME's. The "Entrepreneurial Gdynia" programme also includes: a special webpage addressed to investors comprising basic data and information; publications on national and local laws, and on legal procedures; The Gdynia Business Plan - a contest for the best idea on how to make business, regularly organised, open to all; Careers Fairs meeting places for employers and potential employees. The overall aim of these actions is to encourage the establishment of new companies and further the development of existing ones. The purpose is to reduce unemployment, and to improve the quality of life (through development of housing and real estate, municipal infrastructure etc.) in the city. The good economic condition of the city's major companies - both those connected with maritime economy as well as the ones representing new branches of industry is the best proof of a favourable business climate. Gdynia is the seat of the largest in Poland, and world-wide known international forwarding company C. Hartwig Gdynia. Although the new market-oriented economy in Poland enabled the foundation of numerous new firms, to mention only Terramar or Mitrans, Hartwig Gdynia still is at the top of the list. C.Hartwig Gdynia S.A. offers comprehensive forwarding, transport, customs clearance and storage services. The company operates according to the principles of good price, safety and punctuality which testify to the quality of its services. C. Hartwig Gdynia S.A. also performs sea carrier services on the basis of a "Non Vessel Operating Common Carrier" license.

The city is pursuing a large-scale investment programme aimed at bringing its urban infrastructure to the level represented by other cities of the European Union. This is reflected in the share of the investment expense in the total municipal expenditure. With the 16 percent share of investments Gdańsk ranks among the top large cities, members of the Polish Metropolis Union. The city reaches for various financial instruments e.g. loans and municipal bonds. In order to secure relatively cheap sources of finance the commune authorities have the city assessed for its creditworthiness by independent and objective rating agencies. Since 2000 the assessment has been entrusted to the international rating agency of Standard and Poor’s. Since 2000 too Gdańsk has retained the long-term domestic and foreign currency credit rating of BBB with the projections remaining stable. Considering the volatile macroeconomic situationin the country and throughout the world, the rating proves the city highly credible financially. The best evidence of the city’s stable financial position can be seen in the fact that despite a growing debt incurred to pursue investments Gdańsk’s debt to income ratio is going down, unlike in many other metropolis agglomerations in Poland. Nevertheless, the City takes a proactive approach to improving its financial credibility. To that aim, in autumn of 2003 a Long Term Investment Plan 2004-2008 was adopted. The investment projects it envisages will cost PLN 1.3 billion and contribute to improving the general environment for economicdevelopment and the life quality of the Gdańsk population.

Once there was a transatlantic liner by the name Batory. It was nicknamed 'Lucky Ship' as indeed a lucky ship it was. It was spared both the high winds of the seas and the storms of World War II in which it served in convoys. Its home port was Gdynia - a city born out of dreams and very wisely invented less than 80 years ago; a city born under a lucky star - where luck never fails you and unlike elsewhere the impossible becomes possible.

Your best choice would have been to settle down in Gdynia ; but as only a few have been destined to do so (approximately 250 thousand city inhabitants) the remaining 6 billion are at least welcome to pay a short visit to this beautiful, comfortable and , as has been scientifically proven, the sunniest city in Poland. The scoffers may say that you can visit Gdynia in just one day. The same has been said of Paris... There may be a grain of truth in what they say as both our cities can actually be visited in a lightning fast package tour way. That notwithstanding we wish to welcome everyone to stay here a bit longer. It is worthwhile !!!

Gdynia is an attractive place for connoisseurs of every realm of art, enthusiasts of intensive experiences of nature and active sport lovers. The city is very well connected by rail so you can reach several no less attractive places of interest in the vicinity : Gdańsk, Sopot, the Pomerianian District, the Peninsula of Hel and the Swedish city of Karlskrona.