• Main international airport: Okecie, Warsaw (5.17m passengers)
• Merchant fleet, total tonnage: 373 ships (282400 grt)

The transportation network

• Extent of inland waterways navigable by commercial craft: 3812 km (2369 miles)
• Extent of national paved road network: 247,994 km (154,096 miles)
• Extent of motorways, freeways or major national highways: 405 km (252 miles)
• Extent of commercial rail network: 20,223 km (12,566 miles)

The national airline LOT has increased its charter business as more middle-class Poles vacation abroad. Russian aircraft have all been replaced with Western models. A 15-year roads expansion program was begun in 1997. "Fast tram" systems for cities and long-distance high-speed rail links need major investment. The government backs the streamlining of the rail workforce and the commercialization and part-privatization of the Polish State Railways (PKP).

The advent of mobile phones has affected telecommunications, as has the privatization of Telekomunikacja Polska and the end of its monopoly on long-distance calls.

Poland is keen to integrate with the West, though eastern ties remain important. It was admitted to NATO in 1999 and joined the EU in 2004. Membership of the latter rested on negotiating restrictions on the sale of Polish land to foreigners and the migration of Poles westward. Poland was an active partner in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and was given control over one of the military commands established there.