New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a two-country tour of Poland and Ukraine on Wednesday. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the prime minister will first visit Poland (August 21-22) and then travel to Kiev on August 23. It is noteworthy that this will be the prime minister’s first visit to Poland after a gap of 45 years. In 1979, then prime minister Morarji Desai had visited Warsaw.
The year 2024 will mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Poland. During his visit, Prime Minister Modi will meet his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk and will also meet Polish President Andrzej Duda and the Indian community. In Warsaw, the Polish capital, Prime Minister Modi will be given a welcome ceremony and have an opportunity to interact with prominent business leaders and environmentalists.
Agenda of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Poland
The Ministry of External Affairs further recalled the long-standing ties between India and Poland, highlighting how Poland helped India evacuate its students from Ukraine after the conflict broke out in 2022. It also spoke about the episode in the 1940s when over 6,000 Polish women and children were given shelter in the princely states – Jamnagar and Kolhapur. “The Indian community in Poland is estimated at around 25,000 people. 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. Over 4,000 Indian students were evacuated via Poland in 2022,” Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (West) Tanmaya Lal said on Monday.
Asked about defence cooperation agreements between the two nations, the Ministry of External Affairs said, “Defence cooperation goes back a long way. We have an agreement on defence cooperation which was signed in 2003. It provides for consultations and a format of joint work. India recently reopened the defence wing at the embassy in Warsaw.
Prime Minister Modi visits Ukraine
Moreover, the Foreign Ministry called his upcoming trip to Ukraine a “historical and landmark” visit, amid the fact that he is the first prime minister to visit kyiv since diplomatic relations between the two countries were established more than 30 years ago. The prime minister will travel to Kiev from Poland by train which will take about 10 hours. The return trip will also take the same duration, people familiar with the matter said. Several world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, also traveled to kyiv by train from the Polish railway station near the Ukrainian border.
Why is Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Ukraine important?
The PM’s visit to Ukraine comes amid a fresh military offensive by kyiv on Russian soil. PM Modi’s visit to Kiev comes weeks after his high-profile trip to Moscow, which triggered criticism from the US and some of its Western allies. “India has substantial and independent ties with both Russia and Ukraine and these partnerships stand on their own,” Tanmaya Lal, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs, said at a press conference.
The visit will build on the ongoing engagement between India and Ukraine, he said.
“I would like to say that this is not a zero-sum game. The prime minister also travelled to Russia. Many ideas were discussed,” Lal said. “The prime minister also met President Zelenskyy on a couple of occasions in the last year and now they will meet again in Ukraine,” he said. “I would like to say that these are broad and independent ties and of course the ongoing conflict will be part of the discussions,” he added.
Will PM Modi urge Zelensky to enter into peace talks?
Asked about the conflict in Ukraine, Lal said, “India stands ready to provide all possible support and contribution required to help find peaceful solutions to this complex issue.” At the same time, he refused to anticipate or prejudge the outcome of the talks between PM Modi and Zelenskyy. “India has maintained a very clear and consistent position that diplomacy and dialogue can resolve this conflict, which can lead to lasting peace,” Lal said.
“Dialogue is therefore absolutely essential. Lasting peace can only be achieved through options that are acceptable to both sides and can only be achieved through a negotiated solution. India continues to engage with all stakeholders,” he said.
Lal also noted that India has consistently advocated diplomacy and dialogue to reach a negotiated solution to the Ukraine conflict. “Prime Minister Modi said that this is not the time for war. Solutions cannot be found on the battlefield. This is a clear and consistent position that India has taken and we believe that a large majority of countries share this view,” Lal said.
India’s balancing act
On India’s ties with Ukraine, he said the relationship is “continuous and long-standing.” “This is a historic visit as it will be the first time that an Indian Prime Minister will visit Ukraine in over 30 years since diplomatic relations were established between the two countries,” Lal said.
He said the talks between Modi and Zelensky are expected to focus on the entire range of India-Ukraine ties, including the areas of agriculture, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, health and education, defence and people-to-people ties.
Asked if India is interested in the reconstruction of Ukraine, Lal said New Delhi is ready to provide all the support and contribution that may be required not only in finding a peaceful solution to the conflict but also in the recovery process.
PM Modi held talks with Zelensky in June on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Puglia, Italy. At the meeting, PM Modi conveyed to the Ukrainian President that India would continue to do everything possible to support a peaceful solution to the Ukraine conflict and that the path to peace is through “dialogue and diplomacy”. PM Modi also told Zelensky that India believes in a “human-centric” approach to finding a solution to the conflict in Ukraine. At the meeting, the Ukrainian President invited the Prime Minister to visit Kyiv.
(With contributions from agencies)
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