New Delhi/Bangalore, Sep 6 (IANS) As Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk flew in here for talks, India Monday said it was considering his country’s offer of supplying tank recovery vehicles and hoped for closer business ties with the Central European nation.
Tusk arrived in Bangalore, India’s IT hub, Monday morning on a three-day day visit to India.
‘Being strategically located in the heart of Europe, Poland offers the ideal investment opportunity to Indian entrepreneurs for setting up subsidiaries or explore partnerships in diverse sectors, with access to European and global markets,’ Tusk told captains of the Indian industry in Bangalore.
Leading a high-profile delegation as the first non-Communist Polish premier, Tusk said he decided to begin his three-day state visit to India from Bangalore to strengthen the bilateral relations through business and collaborations.
Tusk will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his senior ministers in Delhi Tuesday.
During the talks, Poland is expected to reiterate its support for India’s candidature for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council.
Defence cooperation with Poland, which began in early 1970s, is growing and will figure in the discussions, B.B. Harrison, joint secretary (Europe) in the external affairs ministry told reporters here.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony will be part of the Indian delegation at the talks.
Harrison disclosed that Poland is interested in supplying tank recovery vehicles. The offer is based on past experience as Poland has supplied to India spares as well as technology for maintaining and upgrading several kinds of equipment. Poland, Harrison stressed, is not only interested only in selling the equipment to India but is also ready for joint ventures and transfer technology.
‘A Polish company is in collaboration already with an Indian company for some items and there are discussions under way for expanding that cooperation further,’ said Harrison.
The proposal for selling tank recovery vehicles was made by Poland during 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.
Officials and experts say that since most of the Indian military hardware was acquired in the 1970s from the then Soviet Union, Poland, a key ally of the then USSR, had the spares and the technology for upgrading the equipment with the Indian forces.
The two sides have also been discussing various other defence related issues, particularly joint training programmes. Poland can help India upgrade Indian T-72 tanks, BMP II infantry combat vehicles and a slew of air defence systems purchased from the former Soviet Union.
Apart from defence cooperation, the two sides are hoping to impart a fresh momentum to their business ties and are expected to sign an agreement on cultural cooperation after the talks.
Poland, which takes over the presidency of the EU in the second half of the next year, also wants the grouping to expedite a key free trade agreement (FTA) with India.
Bilateral trade has exceeded $1 billion, a 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.
Closer economic cooperation in food processing industry and higher education are also on the agenda.
