Ambassador Catherine Godin, accompanied by Executive Director of the Polish Canadian Chamber of Commerce spent the day in Rzeszów visiting some of largest Canadian employers in Poland.
Pratt & Whitney, one of the world’s top aircraft engine manufacturers, and the biggest employer in Poland with more than 6,200 employees in Poland across 3 facilities in Rzeszów, Kalisz and Niepołomice. Pratt & Whitney Canada was the first major “Western” company to start cooperation with the Polish Aviation sector in the post-WW2 era in 1976 when WSK-Rzeszów began supplying parts to PWC. In 2003, they also provided seed funding to help establish the now 190 companies and 33,000 people that make up the Aviation Valley | Dolina Lotnicza Aviation Cluster.
Bausch Health Companies Inc./ICN Polfa Rzeszów S.A, is one of the leading Pharma manufacturers in Poland. They employ more than 1,500 people across 4 locations in . The company’s portfolio consists of approximately 140 brands including hospital, prescription and OTC products in various therapy areas – cardiology, urology, gastroenterology, neurology, oncology and dermatology.
Heli-One, which employs more than 140 people, does helicopters MRO for military and civilian customers across the world. Since opening in 2014, the company has more than doubled in size due to the high-quality and fast turnaround time of their work.
In each of these meetings, the Ambassador conveyed her, and the Trade Commissioner Service | Service des délégués commerciaux’s support to help these companies to continue to grow and create more jobs in one of Poland’s fastest-growing cities.
Last, but certainly not least, it was an honour to meet Marek Darecki, President of the Aviation Valley | Dolina Lotnicza for a frank discussion on the opportunities and challenges in aerospace, how Poland can remain an aviation hub, and how Canada can continue its 40+ year engagement in the Aviation Valley. Aircraft parts are the single most traded products between Canada and Poland, with Polish aviation exporting $605M to Canada and importing $357M 2023. This represents 25% of Canada-Poland goods’ trade.
The visit is just the latest example of the great mutual cooperation between the Embassy and the PCCC.
