PM Modi arrives in Poland on historic visit

Warsaw, Aug 21 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday 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 in his departure statement, earlier in the day.

Prime Minister Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome in Warsaw. He will call on President Andrzej Sebastian Duda on Thursday 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 US$6 billion, which makes Poland India's largest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe. Indian investments in Poland are estimated at around US$3 billion. And the Polish investments into India are around US$1 billion," said Tanmaya Lal, Secretary (West) at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Monday 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.

"Many Indian companies have an active business presence in Poland. And they are engaged in a range of sectors, from IT to pharmaceuticals to manufacturing to farm vehicles to electronics, steel, metals and chemicals. Nearly 30 Polish companies have a business presence in India. And some of them have manufacturing units. These relate to, for example, hygiene and sanitary products, cosmetics, metal packaging, waste to energy and mining. There are direct flights between India and Poland, which commenced in 2019. And this, in a way, is helping the economic and commercial linkages," said the MEA Secretary.

In Warsaw, PM Modi is scheduled to visit the memorials commemorating the time in the 1940s, during World War II, when more than 6,000 Polish women and children found refuge in two princely states in India, Jamnagar and Kolhapur.

He will also interact with members of the Indian community - estimated at around 25,000 - select Polish business leaders and prominent Indologists.

From Poland, PM Modi will be visiting Ukraine at the invitation of President Volodymyr Zelensky which will be the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Ukraine.

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