fdi leaders …making location connections

Our final destination on the EURO 2012 FDI tour is Lviv, situated in Western Ukraine, 70 kilometres from the border with Poland.

Known as the “Little Paris of Ukraine” Lviv is an important cultural and tourist destination.  Its historic city centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

It is a major centre of education, with 38 higher education institutions and 130,000 students.  The city has a population of 760,000 (with 1.5 million people in the wider metropolitan area).

With its marketing headline “Open to the World”, it is indeed attractive to overseas companies, with 581 foreign-owned companies operating in the city.  A priority sector for Lviv is the attraction of BPO and Shared Services Centre operations.  It has been included in KPMG’s Global Frontiers report looking at 31 emerging destinations for IT-BPO activities.

We have fond memories of our visit to Lviv. It is where we met Vasili Abaimov, a former mayor who puts the fun into FDI, and who does much to encourage cross-border relationships – a great ambassador for Ukraine!

During EURO 2012, Lviv will be hosting three of the Group B matches between The Netherlands,  Denmark, Germany, and Portugal.

The next stop on the EURO 2012 FDI tour is Gdansk, Poland’s largest seaport on the Baltic Sea, and the birthplace of the world renowned Solidarity trade union movement - born on August 31, 1980.

As well as a major transport hub, Gdansk is also a popular tourist destination and a growing centre for information technology.  Its airport – the Gdansk Lech Walesa Airport - has just had a second terminal built, and further expansion plans over the next two years are going to triple traffic to this fast growing airport.

The seaport has a Deepwater Container Terminal with direct container lines to the Asian market.  Another important piece of infrastructure for the city is the PGE Arena Gdansk where the EURO 2012 football will be played.

The city is marketed as part of the Tri-City area, comprising the cities of Gdansk, Gdynia, and Sopot, which are all close together and have a combined population of 730,000 people.

During EURO 2012 it will be hosting three of the Group C matches between Spain, Italy, Republic of Ireland and Croatia.  It will also be hosting one of the quarter finals.

Last week we were in Tbilisi, Georgia – awesome hospitality, great people, and an amazing “go for it” attitude .  People make the place, and Tbilisi is now on our list of FDI places to watch out for.  More stories on this happening location soon…