China and Poland establish strategic partnership

Chinese and Polish leaders welcomed a freight train arriving in Warsaw from China on Monday in a ceremony marking a trade co-operation deal that they said showed the European country’s importance as a gateway for Chinese exports.

Meanwhile, he said that the Belt and Road Initiative has seen outstanding progress and that countries along the Belt and Road have responded actively since it was put forward three years ago.

Xi wrote in an article published by the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita last week that China wanted greater cooperation with Poland and the rest of Europe.

China has been Uzbekistan’s second largest trading partner and biggest source of investment for three years in a row.

“There is a saying in Serbia that friends are the fruits of time”, Xi said.

After the ceremony, the leaders, joined by Prime Minister Beata Szydło, participated in the Silk Road Forum.

Since the two countries lifted their bilateral ties to strategic partnership in 2011, their relations have been on a fast track.

More than $1 billion in Chinese investment has flowed into Serbia since the signing of a strategic partnership in 2009, mostly in the form of loans for infrastructure and energy projects, Reuters reports.

“China-Poland ties are at a historical high”, said Chinese ambassador to Poland Xu Jian.

Duda’s adviser, Krzysztof Szczerski, said that Poland wants to have a role in upgrading and creating new land and sea transport links between China and the European Union.

The speaker of the lower house of the Polish parliament attended China’s V-Day celebrations in Beijing in September 2015.

Xi later traveled to the Uzbek capital Tashkent, where he is to hold talks with Karimov on promoting bilateral relations and jointly building the China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt, as well as on major worldwide and regional issues.

Furthermore, the Chinese president made a five-point proposal on the development of the Belt and Road, China-Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) cooperation, as well as China-Poland cooperation.

Serbia could play a significant role in Beijing’s ambitious plan for a new “Silk Road” to boost trade with Europe, Asia and Africa, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Sunday.

On optimizing mechanisms, he called on Chinese and Polish local governments to bridge cooperation between the two countries’ enterprises and civil organizations, expand practical cooperation, and consolidate public foundation for China-Poland friendship.