Poland opens up to the big bear

One of the prominent spectacles at this year's MIPIM fair was the greater numbers of the curious visiting the Russian rather than Polish stalls. After the years of chaos and crisis, the big bear seems to be pulling itself together while the Polish market is still struggling Not so long ago, Poland was an attractive choice for developers and investors, not only because it is the biggest market in post-Communist Central Europe, but also because it offered them a possible springboard or gateway to the huge possibilities in Russia. Does the evidence at MIPIM suggest Poland is now being bypassed on the journey further east? Perhaps the most significant difference between the two markets at the moment is that one, Russia, is "buoyant in all sectors", according to DTZ Russia's Managing Director Stephen Wilson and the other, Poland, as is well known here, has struggled over the past few years. The increased political stability Russia is experiencing under President Vladi