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London 'best city for business'
LONDON, England (CNN) -- London has retained its position as the top European city for business, according to an annual real estate survey. Paris and Frankfurt came second and third respectively in the survey by Cushman and Wakefield Healy and Baker. Athens, Oslo and Moscow were the lowest ranked. The poll recorded issues that companies viewed as important when choosing where to do business. Senior executives from 506 European companies were questioned. They said for the first time that availability of qualified staff was the most important factor in choosing a location. "For the 11 years we've been running this survey, it has always been transportation and access to markets. This is the first time that availability of qualified staff is seen as a critical factor in determining how successful a business location is," head of research at Cushman and Wakefield David Hutchings told CNN. London was ranked top for the availability of staff and office space, communications, and languages spoken. While Britain's decision not to join the eurozone had not harmed London's position, most believed it would do so "over the medium term." Prague was ranked top for the cost of staff. Hutchings predicts that in a couple of years cost, including office space and staffing, may become more important. "Some of the emerging markets in the east (of Europe) are growing quite strongly. Warsaw is likely to be the fastest growth over the next 10 years." Dublin came top for the climate created by the government, Barcelona for the value for money for office space and Stockholm for the freedom from pollution, the survey said. About half of the respondents reassessed their business locations in the wake of September 11, Hutchings said. "They had made adjustments mainly to security arrangement and contingency planning, but some had looked at locations they were in and their strategy for diversifying staff across different countries and cities." The top five cities held the same positions in 2001 and in 1990 when the survey began. They all scored more highly than last year, widening the gap between them and the rest of the 30-city list.
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