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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets with Polish Deputy Prime Minister Janusz Piechoczynski. File photo | Photo source: PTI
PM Modi visits Poland Ukraine The visit will be of great symbolic significance, even as geopolitical issues, trade and defence will be discussed at the highest level. Mr Modi is due to visit Warsaw on August 21-22, the first visit by an Indian prime minister in 45 years since Morarji Desai’s visit in 1979, with cultural ties set to take centre stage.
An Indian businessman based in Poland noted that Poland could be India’s gateway to Europe and that there was great potential for expanding trade, but India lacked clarity on how the system would work.
Defence ties are also on an upward trend, with India recently posting a defence attaché to its embassy in Poland and several Polish companies securing orders and seeking joint ventures in India.
Poland has an Indian population of about 25,000, of which about 5,000 are students. Tanmaya Lal, secretary (West) at the Polish Foreign Ministry, noted that Poland played a key role in helping India evacuate its 4,000 Indian students from Ukraine when the Russian invasion began in early 2022. “One of the unique bonds between our two countries is related to the 1940s during World War II, when more than 6,000 Polish women and children sought refuge in two Indian princely states – Jamnagar and Kolhapur,” he said on Monday.
Poland is the sixth largest economy in the European Union and bilateral trade is about $6 billion, making it India’s largest partner in Central and Eastern Europe. Poland will hold the next EU Council presidency.
Indian companies have investments in IT, pharmaceuticals, agricultural vehicles, electronics, steel and chemicals. Similarly, nearly 30 Polish companies have operations in India in the hygiene products, cosmetics and metal sectors.
In this regard, Amit Lath, an Indian businessman working in Poland, said India must present itself better and educate Polish businesses on how to do business in India. “The fact is that Polish entrepreneurs are very keen to develop business with India, but there is no roadmap, no clear roadmap that tells them how to actually navigate in India. India is not being promoted the way it should be, especially when I see other countries actively and aggressively promoting themselves, we need to do the same,” he told Hinduism“India has a good image but India has to live up to that image through publicity and correct interpretation.”
Mr. Lath, CEO and Managing Partner of Sharda Group of Companies and Vice Chairman of Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stressed that Poland is a hub for Central and Eastern Europe and the entire distribution can be done through Poland. This is especially important since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, when Poland became a distribution route.
An important aspect Mr Lath points out (and others acknowledge this) is that the unofficial trade figures are much higher than the actual trade figures because a lot of goods from India to Poland are shipped through Rotterdam or other ports and these are recorded in the respective countries. Similarly, goods that are transshipped to India through other countries are also labelled as made in the EU, he points out.
During his visit, Modi will also visit the Battle of Monte Cassino Memorial, which commemorates the Indian and Polish soldiers who fought to liberate Rome in World War II. Another monument connecting India and Poland is the Jam Sahib Memorial in Navanagar.
Jamsaheb Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja of Navanagar in Gujarat continues to evoke strong memories in Poland, where he provided shelter to more than 1,000 Polish students in the 1940s. In his honour, a square in central Warsaw was named “Dobrego Maharadzy” or “Good Maharaja Square”. Eight more schools in Poland are named after him.
On the defense front, Poland’s WB Group recently won an emergency purchase order to supply the Indian Army with “War Cruise Ammunition.” The company has since established a subsidiary in India and plans to invest in the country.
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