India, Poland ink cultural pact, to boost defence ties
By IANSTuesday, September 7, 2010
NEW DELHI - India and Poland Tuesday renewed a pact for promoting cultural exchanges and decided to invigorate their economic and defence ties.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held delegation-level talks with his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk and discussed a range of bilateral and global issues, including intensification of trade and investment and the UN reforms.
The two sides discussed a slew of new initiatives in defence cooperation, sources said. India showed an interest in the Polish offer to supply tank recovery vehicles, and the two sides agreed to take forward talks in this area.
Poland had supplied to India spares as well as technology for maintaining and upgrading several kinds of equipment in the 1970s. The proposal for selling tank recovery vehicles was made by Poland during Defence Minister A.K. Antony’s visit to Warsaw in April for a meeting of the joint working group (JWG) on defence cooperation between the two countries.
A tank recovery vehicle is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to repair battle or mine damaged as well as broken down vehicles during combat operations, or to tow them out of the danger zone for more extensive repairs.
Poland also reiterated its support for India’s candidature to the permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council.
The two countries signed an agreement for extending cultural exchanges for 2010-2013 after the talks.
Poland has a strong tradition of Indology. The first chair of Sanskrit studies was established in Krakow more than a century ago in 1893. The Indology Department in the Oriental Institute of the University of Warsaw has been functioning since 1932. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations has been supporting the chair and been sending teachers for Hindi and Tamil to Poland.
Chairs on Indian studies have also been established in other cities of Poland. Similarly, Polish is being taught in Delhi University since 2009.
Tusk arrived on a three-day visit to India Monday.
Poland, which takes over the presidency of the European Union in the second half of the next year, assured India that the EU was keen to expedite a key free trade agreement (FTA) with India.
Bilateral trade between India and Poland has exceeded $1 billion, more than a five-fold jump from a mere $200 million in 2004. The trade includes sectors such as agro, textiles, defence, heavy engineering, mining, IT and agro food processing. Many Indian companies, including Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services, have set up their European headquarters in Poland.
