The 35th Economic Forum is held under the theme "Architecture of the New Order — Stability in Times of Change," with more than 500 events scheduled over three days.
Forum chairman Zygmunt Berdychowski said this year's discussions aim to ensure Poland plays an active role, rather than a passive one, amid sweeping technological and economic change.
Senior Polish officials due to attend include Deputy Prime Ministers Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and Krzysztof Gawkowski, along with several cabinet ministers.
The programme is organised into eight thematic tracks, spanning AI, cybersecurity, healthcare, regional government, the economy, international politics and security, society and sustainable development.
The event traditionally opened with a report from the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH), now in its ninth year, reviewing key economic and social trends in Poland and the wider region.
This year's edition found that Central and Eastern Europe has been narrowing the income gap with the US largely because its population is shrinking, not because its economies are becoming genuinely more productive.
Also, it warned that weak institutions and low innovation could make it harder to keep closing that gap.
A number of other announcements and discussions marked the opening day.
Infrastructure Minister Dariusz Klimczak received the forum's Person of the Year award for what organisers called his consistent delivery of the country's development plans.
Presenting the prize, Kraków University of Technology rector Andrzej Szarata noted that record road investment of PLN 103 billion (EUR 24 billion) is planned for 2027.
He also pointed to rail, saying Poland expects around half a billion train journeys this year, with national operator PKP Intercity alone likely to carry some 100 million passengers.
Klimczak also announced that the company will soon begin testing satellite-based internet access for passengers on selected trains, and confirmed it has ordered 32 additional EU200 Griffin locomotives from Newag, taking its total fleet of the model to 110 once deliveries are complete.
On the main stage, Montenegro's Deputy Prime Minister Filip Ivanović said his country aims to close all EU accession negotiating chapters by the end of the year, putting it on track to become the bloc's 28th member by 2028.
He noted Montenegro has completed 18 of the 33 required steps so far, after "enlargement fatigue" on the EU side gave way to renewed momentum following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In a panel on tourism, national statistics office chief Marek Cierpiał-Wolan reported that Poland recorded 20.3 million tourists in the first half of the year — 16.1 million domestic and 4.2 million foreign visitors — a rise of more than 7 percent year-on-year,.
Also discussed, in a panel on academic mobility, was the challenge of vetting foreign applicants.
Wojciech Karczewski, head of the National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA), said more than 1,000 people attempted to enroll at Polish universities using forged documents between June and August alone — roughly one in every 11 foreigners screened.
Now in its seventh year in Karpacz, south-western Poland, after previously being held in Krynica-Zdrój, the forum runs until Thursday, with Lower Silesia as its main partner region.
(ał)
Source: PAP