Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 21 arrived in Warsaw on a two-day visit to Poland, the first by an Indian PM in the past 45 years.
“My visit to Poland comes as we mark 70 years of our diplomatic relations. Poland is a key economic partner in Central Europe. Our mutual commitment to democracy and pluralism further reinforces our relationship,” PM Modi said.
PM Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome in Warsaw. He will call on President Andrzej Sebastian Duda on August 22 and will also hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He is also scheduled to interact with the Indian community in Poland.
“Our bilateral trade is substantial. And it’s of the order of $6 billion, which makes Poland India’s largest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe. Indian investments in Poland are estimated at around $3 billion. And the Polish investments into India are around $1 billion,” said Tanmaya Lal, Secretary (West) at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) while announcing PM Modi’s visit to Poland and Ukraine.
PM Modi has met his Polish counterpart on four occasions in the latter’s earlier capacity as the President of the European Council.
He also spoke over the phone with President Duda in March 2022, thanking him for the assistance provided by Poland in the evacuation of Indian citizens from Ukraine and for the special gesture of relaxing visa requirements for Indian citizens crossing over to Poland from the conflict zone. More than 4000 Indian students were evacuated via Poland in 2022. Expressing his particular appreciation for the warm reception and facilitation extended by Polish citizens to Indian nationals during the difficult time, PM Modi had also recalled the assistance offered by Poland in the wake of the Gujarat earthquake in 2001.
He also recollected the exemplary role played by the Maharaja of Jamnagar in rescuing several Polish families and young orphans during the Second World War.
The MEA stated that the PM’s visit builds upon a series of continuing high-level exchanges between India and Poland which take place in various formats, including the meeting between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in February. Poland’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Władysław Bartoszewski, had visited India the same month. Poland has the sixth largest economy within the European Union and will hold the next Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
