PM Modi Invites Poland to Participate in 'Make in India, Make for World' Initiative

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his historic visit to Warsaw on Thursday, invited Polish firms to participate in the mission of 'Make in India, Make for the World.' The two countries have also agreed to elevate the good bilateral relationship between India and Poland to that of a strategic partnership.

Addressing the media following talks with his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, at the Federal Chancellery, PM Modi said this was an important day for India-Poland relations since the last visit of an Indian Prime Minister to Poland was in 1979. Tusk, on his part, termed the visit of Prime Minister Modi on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations of the two countries as a "great privilege".

"This is the very sufficient illustration of the importance of this visit and of your presence here today. This is definitely proof of increasingly good relationships between our countries, the importance for the whole region—I will not exaggerate if I say for the whole world—relations between India and Poland," said the PM of Poland. He said that the entire world values India on account of the consistently democratic nature of its polity, which is "not common in that part of the world."

In various areas of mutual cooperation that he pointed out, PM Modi made specific reference to Poland being a world leader in food processing and said Polish companies can participate in the mega food parks being established in India. He also referred to the continuing conflicts in Ukraine and West Asia, saying that it remains a matter of deep concern for all. "India firmly believes that no problem can be solved on the battlefield. Loss of lives of innocents in any crisis has become the biggest problem for the humanity.

We support dialogue and diplomacy for early restoration of peace and stability.". This was said by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the audience of friendly countries: "Now India, together with our friendly forces, is ready to extend all possible help." Tusk marked that there is "broad consistency of interests" between India and Poland and said that states, despite distance, different traditions, and history have always understood each other. "But it is history which a taught us, as the Prime Minister and me underlined today fa1to face in our conversation, how important it is to respect rules, borders, territorial integrity, sovereignty of states and the rule of law," he explained.

"I am very glad that the Prime Minister has confirmed his readiness for personal involvement in the peaceful, righteous, and swift end of the war. We are both convinced that India can play a very important role. Which is important because in a dozen or so hours the Prime Minister will be visiting Kyiv. As for this visit, we are all convinced it can also be historic," added the Polish Prime Minister. Earlier, PM Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome as he reached the Federal Chancellery in Warsaw.

The two leaders held delegation-level talks after their meeting. Prior to Thursday, PM Modi had met Tusk on four occasions in the latter's earlier capacity as the President of the European Council. The Ministry of External Affairs argues that bilateral trade between India and Poland is substantive, in the order of $6 billion. Poland was the largest trading partner of India in Central and Eastern Europe. Indian investments into Poland are estimated at around $3 billion. Polish investments in India are about $1 billion. Poland is the sixth largest economy in the European Union. The country is also set to take over the next presidency of the Council of the European Union. Later today, PM Modi will make a courtesy call on the President of Poland, Mr. Andrzej Sebastian Duda, and also interact with select Polish business leaders and prominent Indologists. From Poland, the Prime Minister is likely to visit Ukraine on the invitation of his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and it will be his first such visit.