Donald Tusk meets PM Narendra Modi today, Polish defence industry looks at partnering with India

As Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk arrived in New Delhi for a meeting Thursday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi — the first visit to India in 16 years by a Polish Prime Minister — the country’s Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said Wednesday that the Polish defence industry is looking for partners and can supply “really great, and good value equipment” to India.

In an interview to The Indian Express, Domanski, who is accompanying Tusk, pitched Poland as an economic growth centre, a gateway for Indian business to access the European market.

“The Polish economy is doing pretty well so far. We are the fastest growing large European economy with GDP growth expected 3.6 per cent this year. Actually, the little known fact is that this year we are going to contribute more to the European Union to overall GDP than Germany or France, which are much bigger economies… So we do hope that we will maintain the pace of growth or similar above 3% in the following quarters and, hopefully, years,” he said.

“That being said, my job is always to worry, worry about the future, and think about threats and also about new engines of GDP growth. Poland is, I dare to say, the largest, the biggest field of clean energy transition in Europe. We will develop both large scale nuclear power plants as well as SMRs (small modular reactors), and of course all of this needs funding. So we are open also for equity investments in our economy, we are looking for foreign partners, and we would love to see more investments from the Indian economy as well. And I believe this is going to be one of the topics of discussion during the Prime Minister’s visit,” he said. A large business delegation is accompanying the Prime Minister on the trip to India.

Poland Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski

Poland has developed a strong defence industry to meet the Russian military threat, as it shares borders with Russia and Ukraine.

“We can cooperate closer and serve our bilateral relations… Poland spends close to 5% of our GDP right now to modernise the Polish defence forces. But at the same time, we are really developing our defence industry, and I do believe that we can provide really great, and good value equipment for India,” Domanski said.

“Our companies are willing to cooperate with Indian partners on some R&D development, as I strongly believe that what really serves the best is… close cooperation of defence industries, developing mutual trust on both sides,” he said, citing the example of the WB Group, which makes state-of-the-art defence equipment for Poland and Ukraine.

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Polish officials said “building trust with India is going to be the biggest task” in the bilateral relations — from the Polish perspective, India was considered close to the Soviet Union and its successor state, Russia. Poland’s own historical experience during the Communist rule in the Soviet era created deep distrust towards Russia.

“What we are looking for are also foreign partners. Of course, we are looking for this partnership in many, many dimensions, and we are searching for export markets for our products. But we are also happy to have some technological R&D cooperation, and here I also see room for closer ties with our Indian partners,” he said.

“We will, of course, discuss mainly economical issues, cooperation in the defence industry. There is lots of room for cooperation in clean energy transition. I am really encouraged by watching, seeing the progress made by India. At the same time, we are also doing a lot here in Poland to make our energy mix more balanced, and I believe that we can work together in this field as well.”

“We have a very strong agriculture industry in Poland, ready to cooperate with Indian partners. Same in mining, also heavy industries… We are willing to cooperate much closer with our Indian partners right now,” he said.

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“Poland is the fastest growing European economy. Our contribution to European GDP growth actually is higher than that of Germany or France, and of course, it also means that Poland could serve as a great gain for Indian companies that would like to enter European markets. We are working really hard now to lower energy prices in Poland, and the investment process is smoother… I would like to use this opportunity to invite all Indian investors, all Indian companies…,” he said.

“We have great companies from many sectors: Defence, dual use, space. We invest a lot in space industry right now, and we have companies like ICEYE that are providing the absolutely best solutions, for example, in satellites, and we are bringing to India more than 80 Polish companies, leaders of business leaders to meet with our Indian partners, both in Delhi and and in Bangalore, so we can strengthen relations… and with partners like India, with global superpower like India, we can together make a very good business,” he said.

On Thursday, Prime Ministers Tusk and Modi will review the entire spectrum of bilateral relations, which was elevated to a Strategic Partnership during Modi’s visit to Poland in August 2024.

Tusk will also travel to Bengaluru where he will engage with business stakeholders. An India-Poland Business Forum will be held in New Delhi and Bengaluru.