China, Poland lift ties to comprehensive strategic partnership

WARSAW, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China and Poland agreed on Monday to upgrade their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to the country.

Xi and his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, made the announcement after their talks in the Presidential Palace. The two countries lifted their ties to a strategic partnership in 2011.

ALIGNING DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES

During their talks, the two leaders agreed to align the two countries' development strategies and join hands to build a community of interests featuring mutual benefits and win-win cooperation.

The two leaders also agreed to promote the development of the Belt and Road, and launch at an early date some major cooperation projects with exemplary significance for early harvest.

Poland is located in the heartland of Europe, with nearly all of the regular China-Europe freight trains going through the country. With its unique location, Poland can play an important role in realizing the Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to revive the ancient trade routes stretching from China to the Middle East, Africa and Europe and even beyond.

Xi urged the two countries to transform their political trust into tangible achievements of sustainable practical cooperation, hoping their cooperative projects, including China-Europe freight train service, could play a pilot role in the joint construction of the Belt and Road and enhance China-Poland inter-connectivity as well as industrial capacity cooperation.

The two countries need to deepen their cooperation in such fields as economy and trade, finance, agriculture and high-tech industries, Xi said, adding that China and Poland should also promote their people-to-people exchanges and facilitate travels between the two countries.

Duda, for his part, said Poland admires what China has accomplished in economic and social development and stands ready to deepen its cooperation with China in the areas of economy, trade, and people-to-people exchanges, and become a portal to Europe for the world's second largest economy.

Duda also pledged to support China in hosting the 18th China-EU Summit scheduled in Beijing next month.

EXPANDING EXCHANGES

The two presidents agreed to expand high-level exchanges, as well as exchanges between legislative and administrative institutions, political parties and regions, and to enhance coordination in international affairs and within multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations and the Asia-Europe Meeting.

The two sides agreed to comprehensively push forward people-to-people exchanges, and to strengthen cultural and educational exchanges as well as cooperation in tourism.

They also agreed to strive for more tangible achievements in cooperation at local level and promote exchanges in sports, so as to build a solid social basis for the long-term development of bilateral ties.

As Poland is one of the first countries that recognizes and establishes diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China, the two peoples have enjoyed a long-standing friendship, said Xi.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 67 years ago, China-Poland relations have continuously made headway, he added.

He noted that the two countries have witnessed frequent exchange of high-level visits, with fruitful results in cooperation and growing people-to-people exchanges, especially since they set up a strategic partnership five years ago.

The two leaders encouraged companies from both sides to invest in each others' countries and expand cooperation in the areas of agriculture, finance, telecommunications, environmental protection, high-tech, aviation and new energy.

Xi said China values its traditional friendship with Poland, and is willing to work with Poland to advance the continuous, healthy and in-depth development of bilateral ties.

Before the meeting, Duda hosted a welcoming ceremony for Xi at the Presidential Palace.

Poland is the second leg of Xi's current three-nation Eurasia tour. He visited Serbia before Poland, and is to travel to Uzbekistan for a state visit and attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.