Indo-Poland relations would improve: Majka

Chennai, Nov 19: The bilateral relationship between India and Poland has always been very good and it would improve further in the coming years, according to Krzysztof Majka, Ambassador of Poland to India.

Dr Majka made this observation while presenting the prestigious award ''Cavalier's Cross'' of Merit of the Republic of Poland, to John Prabakar, President of the Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Tamil Nadu, for his outstanding contribution to the development of Indo-Polish relations, at a function here last night.

He said the award is one of the most prestigious honours instituted way back in 1974 and awarded by the President of the Republic of Poland to foreigners, as well as Polish citizens, residing abroad for their outstanding contributions to the cause of International cooperation and ties between Poland and other nations.

Dr Majka also pointed out that Mr John Prabakar was the sixth personality from outside Poland to receive their country's highest honour.

He said in the overall Indo-Polish relations, it was not at all difficult to notice the important role played by metropolitan cities, such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai apart from Bangalore, though, it is not bracketed under the metropolitan category, in shaping their relations.

He lauded Mr Prabakar for his tireless efforts in cementing the relationship between the two countries and his generous sponsorship in many bilateral initiatives, and said, Mr Prabakar has all the potentials for uplifting Indo-Polish relations.

He recalled Mr Prabakar's assistance to Polish humanitarian Organisation, Caritas Polska, in supplying emergency goods to tsunami victims in Sri Lanka, in 2004, apart from distributing relief measures to tsunami victims of Tamil Nadu, on his own, and for his crucial role in tracing out the missing Polish tourists in Nepal recently.

It was done in such a spontaneous and natural way that it needs to be recognised, appreciated and put on record, added Dr Majka.

Replying to his felicitations, Mr Prabakar said, he had established Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industry, here about four years ago, with the object of maintaining the cordial relationship between the two countries. He said right from the inception of the Chamber, he had been organising several business seminars, conducting cultural events and economic activities, linking Tamil Nadu and Kerala to Poland, besides organising a number of Indian Trade Missions to Poland.

He thanked Lech Kaczynski, President of Poland, choosing him for the rare award and the highest honour of Poland.

Later, Dr Majka, in his informal chat with UNI said that the trade between Poland and India is expected to touch Rs 600 million US Dollors, as against 550 million US Dollars during the last year.

He claimed that Polish economy was doing well in the last few years, as their GDP growth rate was 5.3 per cent and the inflation was just 1.4 per cent. This showed that the Polish economy was moving in the right direction, he added.

He said they were members of the European Union for the last two-and-half years and this would help them to improve their relationship with India further. Indian economy was also growing fast and the time was appropriate to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), he added.

Poland is keen to concentrate on areas like mining sector, coal, energy sector, port infrastructure, food processing, tourism and education and the country is interested to invest on these sectors in India, he added.

UNI