Historic meeting: Tusk (left) welcoming Modi in front of the Prime Minister’s Office in Warsaw. — AFP
INDIAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi was greeted by his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk before heading to Kyiv for top-level meetings.
Modi and Tusk met for talks yesterday on security, the war on Ukraine by India’s strategic partner Russia, and invigorating bilateral ties.
They were expected to make statements, and later the Indian leader was to meet with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda.
Ahead of his visit, Modi said Poland was India’s key economy partner in Central Europe.
The two leaders were expected to sign bilateral strategic cooperation agreements covering cybersecurity and the defence sector.
On Wednesday, Modi commemorated an Indian maharaja who sheltered Polish children during World War II, laying flowers at the marble lotus-crowned monument erected in Warsaw in honour of the maharaja.
In a little-known story linking the two nations, the maharaja hosted Polish children in what is now Gujarat – Modi’s home state where he was chief minister before launching national political career.
Modi announced a youth exchange programme named after the maharaja, under which 20 Polish young people would be invited to India each year.
Sitting on the eastern flank of Nato and the European Union, Poland is concerned about the two-year-old war across its eastern border. It has offered political, humanitarian and defence support to Ukraine.
Kyiv chastised Modi for a visit to Moscow last month, during which he met and hugged President Vladimir Putin.
Modi has avoided condemning Russia while emphasising a peaceful settlement to the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the meeting as a “huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts”. He also chided Modi for hugging Putin during their meeting.
Modi’s visit to Poland also marks 70 years of bilateral ties between New Delhi and Warsaw.
According to figures cited by the Embassy of India, the total value of bilateral trade increased from US$1.95bil to US$5.72bil from 2013-2023, with India’s exports accounting for a majority.
Then-Indian president Pratibha Patil visited Poland in 2009, and Tusk, during his first term as prime minister, paid a visit to India in 2010.
Tomorrow, Modi travels to Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy, where he will share perspectives on peaceful resolution of the ongoing Ukraine conflict. — AP
