April 23 w The National Museum of the Przemysl Region hosted a conference on aid for Ukraine, organized by the newly established association of Carpathian Women. Honorary patronage over the event was assumed by the First Lady of the Republic of Poland Agata Kornhauser-Duda.
Participants in the event included Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Polish Sejm Marek Kuchciński, Minister of Family and Social Policy Marlena Maląg, Deputy Minister of Funds and Regional Policy Małgorzata Jarosińska-Jedynak, Deputy Minister of Development and Technology Olga Semeniuk, and Deputy Minister of Finance Piotr Patkowski. Special guests were representatives of the Supreme Council of Ukraine Oleena Kondrattiuk and Oleena Shulak, who emphasized the "sisterly" attitude of Poland.
In a letter addressed to the organizers and participants of the conference Agata Kornhauser-Duda said that it is difficult to imagine a better place to organize such an event than Przemyśl, a city which from the very beginning has been struggling with the organization of humanitarian aid for hundreds of thousands of refugees from our neighboring country engulfed by war. According to the First Lady, it is here that one can see how sensitive Poles have become to the misfortunes of Ukrainian men and women. It is also here that one can see that the structures of the Polish state and local governments have passed the test in the face of the great organizational challenge of taking care of the unfortunate people fleeing the war. The majority of refugees are women and children, i.e. vulnerable people who require special care.
President Marek Kuchciński emphasized the great role of women, mothers and wives, in the modern world. He noted that the Carpathian Women's Association is a response to the needs that have been voiced over the years at the Carpathian Europe Conference.
Minister Marlena Maląg reminded about the benefits of 300 PLN and child care guaranteed by Poland to refugees, free health care, opportunities for Ukrainian children and students to continue their education in Poland or websites dedicated to Ukrainians. She stated that nearly 1 million people have already received PESEL numbers, half of them are women and the rest are children. The Minister emphasized that the support for refugees is realized mainly thanks to the recently adopted special law, which, among others, allows them to stay in our country for 18 months. Refugees also have access to the Polish labour market.
Deputy Minister Małgorzata Jarosińska-Jedynak noted that in deciding on the allocation of funds, the Ministry operates under the regime of European regulations on the basis of aid packages adopted by the European Commission. On the basis of these regulations, the EU funds were allocated, among others, to support the care of children under 3 years old, complex professional activation, purchase of medical materials and medicines for hospitals or use of passenger rolling stock for humanitarian transport.
Deputy Minister of Development and Technology Olga Semeniuk said that 1/3 of Ukrainian citizens who came to our country want to find work in our country. However, 93 percent of those who are with us are women, and the average age is 38 years. According to Semeniuk, the presence of Ukrainians in Poland is an opportunity for both the Polish and Ukrainian economies. She noted that programs are being prepared to make it easier for refugees to set up businesses in our country. -Women are more and more often setting up companies, they are active. We are also creating guides, which show how to set up a business or transfer a company from Ukraine to Poland - she emphasized. According to the Deputy Minister the most important thing now is to build an economic program that will concern the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Deputy Minister Piotr Patkowski pointed out that the challenge now will be to help Ukraine rebuild the damage. According to Patkowski, the scale of funds that must be transferred for this purpose will be unprecedented in history. - These funds must also not be repayable. The first throw must be generous and must be built with non-refundable funds. This will allow the Ukrainian state to activate financial levers that will allow the country to develop," the Deputy Finance Minister stressed.
A special role in organizing the conference was played by Teresa Pamuła, MP, and Krystyna Wróblewska, President of the Association.
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