This is both a command of the heart and the interests of the two countries and peoples, contributing to peace cooperation and development in the world.
That was the strong and sincere affirmation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh when summarising the relationship between the two countries at the talks and meetings with Polish leaders and friends during his official visit to this country.
The warm feelings that the two sides have for each other make everyone feel warm in the bitter cold of the Warsaw winter these days. Exactly three-quarters of a century has passed with many historical changes, but despite the geographical distance, the hearts of the people of the two countries always turn to each other.
Therefore, the official visit to Poland by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse, along with the high-ranking delegation from Vietnam, is highly anticipated by the host country and has a special significance on the occasion of the two countries celebrating the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations (February 4, 1950 - February 4, 2025).
Enhancing strategic relations
The Polish Government and people have given Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his delegation a warm and thoughtful welcome, expressing their respect for the traditional loyal and close affection. The talks between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Donald Tusk were extremely successful, even lasting much longer than expected.
The most important thing that the two sides achieved was the agreement to consider upgrading the relationship to a strategic level soon, based on high political trust and good achievements of the traditional friendship, making economic cooperation an important pillar of the bilateral relationship and striving to bring the two-way trade turnover to 5 billion USD.
This is even more meaningful when Poland assumes the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) in the first half of 2025.
The Polish Government and people gave Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the delegation a warm and thoughtful welcome, showing respect for the traditional sentiment of loyalty and attachment.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk affirmed that Vietnam has always been a close and long-standing friend of Poland and is currently one of Poland's leading important partners in the Southeast Asian region.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh thanked and proposed that the Polish Government continue to facilitate the Vietnamese community in Poland to integrate more deeply into the host society, making positive contributions to the development of Poland as well as the traditional friendship between the two countries, including the early recognition of the Vietnamese community as an ethnic minority of Poland, as the Czech Republic and Slovakia have done. Prime Minister Donald Tusk affirmed that Poland will soon consider this proposal. When Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh announced this news to the community at the Homeland Spring 2025 programme, the entire hall burst into applause.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed that he and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh are close in age and generation, although the two countries have different political systems, their feelings are always close. He thanked Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh for inviting him to officially visit Vietnam, he was very happy to accept and said that he could visit Vietnam this year.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made a strong impression on Polish friends during his speech at the University of Warsaw when he recalled the poem “Vietnam” by Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska, which has always accompanied many generations of Vietnamese people.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his emotion to the Polish leaders for visiting the country of traditional and loyal friends who have always accompanied Vietnam throughout the years of fighting for national independence and unification as well as the cause of building, renewing and developing the country today.
Poland has given humanity great geniuses such as astronomer Nikolaj Kopernik, famous composer Frederic Chopin and scientist Marie Curie. The Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam always remembers and appreciates the valuable support and assistance that Poland has given to Vietnam in the struggle for national independence and national reunification.
Vietnam always remembers and appreciates the valuable support and assistance that Poland has given to Vietnam in the struggle for national independence and national reunification.
Prime Minister
Pham Minh Chinh
The Prime Minister was very pleased when expressing to Polish friends the historical relationship that has connected the two peoples and two countries. Poland recognised and established diplomatic relations with Vietnam very early (February 4, 1950). The Polish people always have good feelings for the country and the people of Vietnam. Poland has actively supported Vietnam in the resistance wars to save the country. Poland is the only country that sent thousands of officers to both Armistice Commissions after the Geneva Agreement in 1954 and the Paris Agreement in 1973.
Poland helped train thousands of Vietnamese cadres and engineers to build the country in peacetime. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the two countries supported and helped each other through batches of masks sent by Vietnam to Poland and millions of doses of valuable COVID-19 vaccines donated from Warsaw to Hanoi. Then, there was the support of the Polish Government in helping Vietnamese people in difficulty, evacuated from Ukraine. Those gestures in times of trouble proved that the two countries are sincere and mutually supportive partners.
The Prime Minister emphasised and believed that by promoting similar historical values, cherishing independence, autonomy, freedom and love of peace after centuries of fighting for national independence, together rising strongly from the ruins of war. Regarding charity, love for humanity and the spirit of “great national unity”, peace and humanity, Vietnam and Poland would continue to promote multilateral cooperation and international solidarity, uphold international law, and make responsible contributions to common regional and global concerns.
The leaders of the two countries also strongly affirmed that Vietnam and Poland have no contradictions or conflicts, but rather have many common points and similarities. The core values in the relationship between the two countries are solidarity, cooperation, and sharing in times of difficulty and challenge.
Strengthening the connection between the two economies
Today, Poland is known as the leading economy in the region, ranking 6th in the EU and 20th in the world. Over the past 30 years, the size of the Polish economy has tripled and has always been at the forefront of the world in terms of economic growth rate.
Poland is an active and responsible member of the international community, with an increasingly important role and voice in the EU and the Central Eastern European region. Meanwhile, Vietnam is emerging as a dynamic and strong developing country with many advantages in economic development in ASEAN.
The current world situation requires Vietnam and Poland to strengthen cooperation, connection, support, and complement each other's strengths to overcome all difficulties and challenges. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Polish leaders shared the same view when assessing that the bilateral economic, trade and investment cooperation in recent years has developed remarkably, achieving many encouraging goals, but is still not commensurate with the extremely good political relationship, and has not fully exploited the potential and strengths of the two countries.
The Prime Minister frankly acknowledged that this is the responsibility of the leaders of the two countries, including the Prime Minister himself. He clearly states that the connection of the two economies will have a new way of doing things, a new approach, which is to strengthen the connection of the two economies, connect the business communities of the two countries, and complement each other's strengths.
Enterprises must be dynamic, proactive, and positive, strengthen connections and discuss, work together, share experiences, and support development. The governments of the two countries have the responsibility to lead and create mechanisms, policies, and trust for businesses. These strong messages from the Vietnamese Government leader have truly inspired, motivated and created an exciting atmosphere for the business communities of the two countries when attending the Poland-Vietnam Business Forum.
The official visit to Poland by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife along with the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation was a great success, creating a major turning point, and opening a new chapter in the relationship between the two countries.
Looking to the future, the Prime Minister firmly believes that Vietnam and Poland are facing great opportunities to bring bilateral relations to new heights, becoming a model of friendly cooperation between Southeast Asia and Central Eastern Europe, for the benefit of the people of the two countries, for peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world.