Is Poland Europe's next economic powerhouse?

[NewsCaster]

Getty Images file A Boeing 787 Dreamliner prepares for take-off at Britain's Farnborough Airshow. Polish engineers helped design the engines that General Electric is building for the 787. By Tom Marshall, The Hechinger ReportWARSAW, Poland — Foreign companies flock to invest. Its balance sheet is the envy of Europe. Top university programs crank out graduates whom everyone wants to hire.

Such is the current reputation of Poland, which has continued to grow during the global financial crisis as neighboring countries decline, lining itself up for a strong run to become the continent’s next economic powerhouse.

General Electric officials say they haven’t for a moment regretted basing one of their global design centers here, where Polish engineers helped create the new GEnx engine for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. (NBC News is owned by NBCUniversal. Comcast Corporation owns a controlling 51 percent interest in NBCUniversal, with General Electric holding a 49 percent stake.)

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