Poland wants to be India’s gateway to Europe, PM Tusk says in New Delhi
Poland wants to become a gateway to Europe for Indian companies, while India can serve as a gateway to Asia for Polish businesses, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in New Delhi on Thursday as he called for closer economic and technological ties between the two countries.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk speaks at the Polish-Indian Business Forum in New Delhi on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026.PAP/Radek Pietruszka
„We want Poland to be a gateway to Europe for companies from India, and India to be a gateway for companies from Poland to Asia,” Tusk said at a Polish-Indian business forum in New Delhi.
Tusk said Poland and India had the expertise to work together in some of the most advanced areas of the modern economy, including dual-use technologies, artificial intelligence and the space industry.
Tusk was accompanied on his visit by Finance Minister Andrzej Domański and executives from nearly 100 Polish companies.
He described it as the largest business delegation of its kind in the history of Polish-Indian relations.
Opening the forum, Tusk said the two countries shared experience of economic development and a belief that „entrepreneurship, knowledge and new technologies are changing the face of society.
Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka
He told the gathering that both countries had undergone major changes since his previous visit to India in 2010, with India becoming one of the world’s fastest-growing economies and Poland one of the largest and fastest-growing economies in the European Union.
Tusk said Russia’s war in Ukraine and fragile supply chains for energy, raw materials and technology meant Poland needed to build resilient and diversified relationships with a range of countries, making India particularly important.
Poland offers a developed industrial base, skilled workers and access to the EU’s single market, Tusk said.
He also highlighted Poland’s location at the centre of European transport routes and its logistics infrastructure.
India, meanwhile, brings „scale, dynamism, talent and great production potential,” he said.
Tusk said a planned trade agreement between India and the EU would create additional opportunities, with work on the agreement still underway.
He said Poland and India could cooperate in defence, dual-use technologies, mining, energy, agriculture, food production and pharmaceuticals, as well as artificial intelligence, digitisation and the space sector.
Tusk said the Polish delegation would discuss space and information technologies during a visit to Bengaluru on Friday.
He also called for closer contacts between Polish and Indian universities, researchers, start-ups and young professionals.
Tusk urged businesses to move beyond exchanging business cards and making declarations and instead seek projects leading to long-term investment, joint production, contracts and new technologies.
„Poland and India have the necessary expertise to cooperate in the most advanced aspects of the modern economy,” he said, citing dual-use production, artificial intelligence and the space industry.
He also called for those opportunities to be turned into concrete results, saying the Polish government was ready to support the process and expressing hope that business organisations in both countries would help establish partnerships and develop projects.
Domański said later that Polish companies should focus not only on exporting to India but on establishing a presence there and building long-term partnerships.
He described the planned free trade agreement with India as a „milestone” in bilateral relations and said he hoped it would be „implemented in the first half of 2027.”
Poland could set a more ambitious target than the government’s goal of doubling bilateral trade with India by 2030, Domański said.
„Honestly, after several meetings I have had today, I think we can dare to aim for more. The USD 6 billion we have now is far below our potential,” he said.
Thursday’s talks in New Delhi focused on dual-use technologies and defence, agriculture and agricultural technology, pharmaceuticals and medicine, industrial technologies, mining and raw materials, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The space sector is also expected to be an important area of cooperation, with a number of agreements and memorandums of understanding signed at the forum.
Poland and India have also agreed to seek to double bilateral trade by 2030 and make the trade relationship more balanced.
Trade between the two countries totalled EUR 5.68 billion in 2025, with Polish exports to India worth EUR 1.37 billion and imports from India totalling EUR 4.31 billion, according to the Polish government.
Earlier on Thursday, after meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tusk said he would personally seek ways to promote trade ties between Polish and Indian companies.
Modi said bilateral cooperation had gained momentum since the countries elevated their relationship to a strategic partnership in 2024.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet in New Delhi on Thursday. Photo: EPA/RAJAT GUPTA
Tusk said the two countries had ambitious plans beyond traditional industries such as mining, coal gasification and shipbuilding, including cooperation on space technology, digitisation, satellites and modern defence industries.
He also said Poland and India needed to reduce their dependence, where possible, on dominant suppliers of strategic raw materials, critical minerals and technologies.
„We are very much aware of the political threats and the need to become independent as much as possible in the area of strategic resources and minerals,” Tusk said, adding that efforts were being made „to make sure that Poland, India and Europe are independent in those areas.”
„I do hope that our cooperation in this area will be successful,” he said.
Tusk also referred to the historical ties between the two countries, including India’s sheltering of Polish refugees and children during World War II under Maharaja Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, who is known in Poland as the Good Maharaja.
He also praised Poland’s assistance to Indian students in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion.
Tusk said he had told Modi about the effort with pride, describing it as an example of friendship, trust and solidarity.
Tusk said Poland had ambitions to play a leading role in Europe, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, and welcomed Modi’s view that Poland could serve as a gateway for India to cooperate with Europe.
He said he would personally support contacts and cooperation between Polish and Indian companies and announced that March 30 would be observed annually as Polish-Indian Friendship Day to mark the anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Modi said the strategic partnership had accelerated bilateral cooperation over the past two years.
He said the economic strength of both countries created broad opportunities for cooperation that could be expanded by a free trade agreement.
Modi also welcomed Tusk’s visit with a large business delegation and said the countries should work to create trusted supply chains and achieve their goal of doubling bilateral trade.
India and Poland will pursue further partnerships in critical minerals, raw materials and coal gasification, as well as cybersecurity, Modi said.
„Today we agreed to deepen our ties in the fields of defence, space and energy,” Modi said at a joint news conference with Tusk.
„In all these strategic sectors, we invite Polish companies to engage in co-development and co-production with India. We will also forge new partnerships, leveraging Poland’s expertise in critical minerals and coal gasification,” he added, as cited by India’s The Tribune newspaper.
He also announced the establishment of an India-Poland Startup Bridge and technology hackathons for young people from both countries to strengthen collaboration in emerging technologies, The Tribune reported.
„Our relationship in the domains of IT and cybersecurity is already robust, with many Indian IT companies operating in Poland. Building upon this cooperation, we agreed to establish the India-Poland Startup Bridge. We will also organise technology hackathons for the youth of both our countries,” Modi said, according to The Tribune.
Referring to the war in Ukraine, Modi said both countries believed in the rule of law and democracy and that India would support efforts to establish peace, Poland’s PAP news agency reported.
Tusk began his visit on Thursday with a meeting with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and a visit to Mahatma Gandhi’s mausoleum in New Delhi.
He was scheduled to travel to Bengaluru later on Thursday with business representatives and officials from the Polish Space Agency (POLSA) and Polish space and technology companies.
On Friday, he is due to meet with officials in the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka and take part in a Polish-Indian business seminar focused on information and communications technology and the aerospace industry.
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Source: IAR/PAP, tribuneindia.com
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