Warsaw has climbed to 22nd position in the ranking of most attractive European cities for business

The list was prepared by consulting company Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker. A year earlier, Poland's capital occupied 26th position on a list of 30 cities. Its moving to 22nd position is the biggest advance over last year's list, after Manchester. The ranking was prepared on the basis of opinions presented by 501 representatives of the highest-level managerial staff of large European corporations in nine countries. According to those surveyed, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Brussels, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Madrid are the cities most attractive as business locations. Of Central European cities, Prague (17th position), Warsaw (22nd position) and Budapest (23rd position) received the highest ratings. A decisive factor in appraising a city's popularity was whether it is familiar to businesspeople or not. This year, 29 percent of those polled said they knew Warsaw, while in 2002 only 26 percent said so. Prague is known better than Warsaw-as many as 40 percent said they were familiar with the city. Poland's capital improved its rating regarding the cost of labor and is the leader in this respect. Access to the market and customers also improved-in this category Warsaw advanced from the 25th to 18th position. Managers who took part in the survey noted an improvement in the quality of telecommunications services (25th position from 27th position) and a better climate for business development related to the taxation and fiscal policy pursued by the government-5th position together with Paris (9th position last year). According to those surveyed, the best promoted cities are Barcelona, Madrid, Dublin and London. Warsaw improved its rating regarding the availability of office space (advancement from the 13th to 10th position), inland transportation, knowledge of foreign languages and the quality of the environment. Warsaw fell seven spots to 26th position regarding the availability of appropriate staff. The situation concerning international transportation connections and return on investment also deteriorated. The rating regarding the quality of life for employees was unchanged, which places Warsaw next to last on the ranking list, ahead of Moscow.