The Polish government has agreed to buy two reconnaissance satellites from France in a deal worth 575 million euros.

The deal was greenlighted by the Polish and French Defence Ministers. Under the deal, Poland is set to receive two Earth observation satellites, together with a ground station. The satellites will boost the ability of the Polish army to obtain reconnaissance data. The Polish military will be able to secure image reconnaissance data with an accuracy of up to 30 centimetres, according to officials. Moreover, thanks to cooperation with France, Poland’s new imaging satellites will cover a much bigger portion of the Earth, the Polish defence ministry said.

Source – Polskie Radio, Reuters

The Polish government has taken steps to buy back a key power supplier to the Polish rail network from its current, foreign owner.

The state-controlled Polish Energy Group (PGE) will purchase a 100-percent stake in PKPE Holding from the Edison Holdings company in a PLN 1.9 billion deal. The deal means that PKPE Holding returns to state hands after seven years. In 2015, Poland’s previous Civic Platform-led government sold the group to American private equity firm CVC Capital Partners. Writing in a Facebook post, the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki said, “The return of companies that are strategically important for Poland’s security and growth into the hands of us all, namely into the State Treasury, is one of the pledges of the Law and Justice government that we’ve been consistently implementing for years, to the benefit of Polish families”.

Source – Polskie Radio

The majority of Ukrainian women who fled to Poland after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia have found work, according to figures published this week.

Speaking in an interview, the Deputy CEO of Poland’s state run Polish Development Fund said that the Polish government’s policy to welcome refugees from Ukraine had been an overall success. He added that Poland’s wide-ranging support to Ukrainians escaping the Russian invasion of their country was designed to encourage them to eventually take up employment. Figures show that between 60-70% of the 950,000 refugees currently living in Poland are in work.

Source – Polskie Radio

And finally, a state of the art computing centre is being built at the Gdańsk University of Technology’s campus in Gdańsk Wrzeszcz.

The complex, which is set to be finished in the first quarter of 2023 is being built on the slopes of the Góra Szubieniczna on the outskirts of Gdańsk Wrzeszcz and will host one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe when it is opened. The supercomputer will enable the collection, processing and archiving of huge data sets, as well as the performance of complex simulations in scientific research. The total investment being made in the centre is close to PLN 250 million.

Source – Radio Gdańsk

Weather

Today will be a cloudy day in a gentle breeze with temperatures of 9 degrees centigrade (48 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day and 4 degrees overnight. Tomorrow will remain cloudy in a gentle breeze with temperatures of 7 degrees during the day and 3 degrees overnight.
That was the Radio Gdańsk English news and weather.

Listen to the broadcast:

Martin Caren/ol