Polish Aid to the World 

An exhibition titled "Polish Aid to the World" was held at the European Parliament in Brussels on November 19-22 2007. It was opened by  Polish MEP Mieczysław Janowski and Jan Tombiński, ambassador at Poland's Permanent Representation to the European Union.

The exhibition featured  photos of aid projects co-financed by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs  in 2006 and 2007,  in  key areas of development assistance:  education, health, water and the environment, economic reforms and improvement of public administration, the civil society and women's vocational activity. The relevant Polish aid totaled USD 300 million and was delivered in the form of 360 projects.  The photos had been taken by staff who helped implement the projects, including representatives of Polish NGO's , which in 2006 completed almost 150 aid projects in the developing countries and countries in transition.

A concert by young musicians from the Rzeszów School of Music: Maciej Narciszewski (violin) and Patryk Bogdan (trumpet) provided a highlight to the event. Their performance of "Polish Capriccio" by Grażyna Bacewicz and "Sonata in F-Major" by George Frederick Handel was warmly received by the audience.

Poland's foreign aid is a manifestation of solidarity with countries in need, even though Poland itself receives Union assistance - noted MEP Janowski in his address. The goals of Polish assistance in the years 2007-2013 were reviewed by Polish Ambassador to the EU Jan Tombiński. Irish MEP Brian Crowley, co-president of the Union of  Europe for the Nations group in the European Parliament thanked for the organization of the exhibition, noting the Polish contribution to the fight against poverty and to  the promotion of democracy.

The exhibition attracted considerable interest among members of the European Parliament and staff of Union institutions, as well as representatives of the countries which had received Polish assistance. It featured various aspects of Polish support for the poorest countries in 2006. The need for holding the exhibition was affirmed by many visitors who admitted they had been unaware of Poland's activity in that sphere.

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"Polish assistance through the camera lens" 2007

A photo exhibition presenting Polish aid activity in the countries of Eastern Europe,  the Balkans, Caucasus, the Middle East and Africa was arranged at the Warsaw School of Economics on January 16-31 2007.  A report on Polish development cooperation in 2005 and a number of brochures on the assistance activity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its partners in 2006 were distributed during the exhibition. .

The exhibition featured photos taken during the implementation of aid projects in the years 2004-2005. These were mainly projects executed by NGOs and Polish missions in Africa and Asia. Another group of photos illustrated  humanitarian aid operations. 

Time to help others 

On August 29, 2007 in the main town square in Cracow you could see an exhibition titled ‘Time
to help others' about the Millennium Development Aims. Financed as a part of the 2006 Polish Aid program, the exhibition was organised by the Salesian Volunteer Mission ‘Young for the world', and was part of the Eurizons campaign.

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