2nd Congress and Local Government Forum: “A Safe Poland and its Citizens. A New Civil Defence System

On 25 and 26 May, a congress on security and civil defence was held at the ICE Congress Centre in Kraków. Among those in attendance were Prof. Jacek Purchla and the director of the International Cultural Centre, Agata Wąsowska-Pawlik, who moderated a panel on the challenges of protecting heritage, state assets and local government resources.

Security and crisis management issues

The congress is the largest event of its kind in our country, attended by numerous government representatives and leading specialists working on resilience and civil defence. This year’s 2nd National Congress and Local Government Forum, “Safe Poland and Citizens. The New Civil Defence System”, focused on crisis management issues in local government and preparations for the event of hostilities. The event organisers created a space for developing cooperation and discussion. The two-day event in Kraków brought together representatives of rural municipalities, county authorities, mayors, city mayors and provincial marshals as heads of civil defence, as well as specialists from municipal enterprises and others representing various organisations and institutions.

Protection of cultural heritage 

One of the aims of the congress was to convey to an opinion-forming audience the most interesting and significant experiences of experts dealing with the protection of cultural property and archival resources in Poland. Agata Wąsowska-Pawlik chaired a panel on the protection of heritage, state and local government resources. This thematic track discussed issues relating to the protection of cultural heritage and the activities of the Civil Defence in safeguarding it. The experiences of the war in Ukraine were also addressed, along with the safeguarding of archival resources in crisis situations and the necessary actions local authorities must take in this regard. The discussion also covered the digitisation of archival resources as a safeguard against crisis situations, the digital security of cultural institutions, and data backups for museums and archives.

The following took part in the discussion: 

• Prof. Andrzej Betlej, Director of the Wawel Royal Castle
• Dr Paweł Pietrzyk, Director-General of the State Archives
• Prof. Jacek Purchla, former Chair of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee
• Agata Wąsowska-Pawlik, Director of the International Cultural Centre in Kraków (Panel Moderator)
  

Honorary patronage of the event 

Honorary patronage of the event was provided by: Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, Marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland; Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence; Krzysztof Gawkowski, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Digital Affairs; Marcin Kierwiński, Minister of the Interior and Administration; Dariusz Klimczak, Minister of Infrastructure; Tomasz Siemoniak, Minister – Member of the Council of Ministers, Coordinator of Special Services; Miłosz Motyka, Minister of Energy; and Aleksander Miszalski, Mayor of Kraków.

Event programme

Photo: courtesy of the organisers.