New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, August 21, is all set to embark on a historic and significant two-nation visit to Poland and Ukraine. The Prime Minister will first visit Poland– from August 21 to 22 and then head to Kyiv on August 23, the Ministry of External Affairs said on its website. Notably, this will be the Prime Minister’s first visit to Poland after a gap of 45 years. 2024, marks the 70th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between India and Poland.
Meanwhile, PM Modi will be visiting war-torn Ukraine for the first time since Moscow’s invasion of Kyiv. This will also be the first visit to Ukraine by an Indian Prime Minister since the diplomatic relations established between the two countries in 30 years. The Indian Prime Minister will travel to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv via a train called the ‘Rail Force One,” which will take around 10 hours from one side.
What’s on the Agenda For Poland?
The MEA recalled the old ties between India and Poland, with Ministry’s secretary (West) Tanmaya Lal saying, “Indian community in Poland estimated at around 25,000. This includes around 5,000 students. The government and people of Poland had offered valuable assistance during ‘Operation Ganga’ for the evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine. More than 4,000 Indian students were evacuated via Poland in 2022.”
When asked about agreements in defence cooperation between the two countries, Tanmaya asserted, “The defence cooperation goes back a long time. We have an agreement on defence cooperation that was signed in 2003. This provides for consultations and a joint working format. India recently reopened the defence wing at the embassy in Warsaw.”
PM Modi’s Ukraine Visit. Why is it so Significant?
Besides the PM’s visit to Poland, MEA dubbed his visit to Ukraine as a “landmark and historic visit” amid the ongoing invasion in Kyiv.
“India has substantive and independent ties with both Russia and Ukraine and these partnerships stand on their own,” the MEA secretary said.
He added that the visit will focus on continuing the engagement between India and Ukraine.
“I would like to say that this is not a zero-sum game. The prime minister had also travelled to Russia. Many ideas were discussed.”
“The prime minister also met President Zelenskyy on a couple of occasions in the last one year or so and they will now be meeting again in Ukraine. I would like to say that these are independent broad ties and of course the ongoing conflict will form part of the discussions.”
This comes after PM Modi held talks with Zelenskyy in June on the sideline of the G7 Summit this year in Italy’s Apulia, where he conveyed to the Ukranian counterpart that India would continue to do everything within its means to support a ‘peaceful’ solution to the Ukraine conflict and that the way to peace is through “dialogue and diplomacy.”
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