Polish President hails overseas Vietnamese

November 29, 2017 - 10:10

Visiting Polish President Andrzej Duda affirmed that the Vietnamese community in Poland plays a significant role in maintaining and developing relations between the two countries.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (R) receives Polish President Andrzej Duda in Hà Nội yesterday. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

HÀ NỘI — Visiting Polish President Andrzej Duda affirmed that the Vietnamese community in Poland plays a significant role in maintaining and developing relations between the two countries. 

He made the affirmation while meeting Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc in Hà Nội yesterday, noting he was particularly interested in promoting the economic partnership with Việt Nam, including in tourism. 

Poland wants to increase the number of its tourists visiting Việt Nam and promote balanced trade with the Southeast Asian country, he added. 

He hoped the Vietnamese Government would actively support Polish businesses to invest here. 

Poland had chosen Việt Nam as one of the top five potential countries with which to promote co-operation, he said, adding that the Polish Government would urge the EU to sign and ratify the EVFTA as soon as possible.

For his part, Phúc urged the two countries to reinforce their co-operation mechanisms and seek more effective ones as well as resume the meeting of the joint committee on science co-operation to aid the development of the sector. 

The Vietnamese Government welcomed Poland’s opening of its trade representative office in the southern economic hub of HCM City, he said. 

He supported the two sides promoting cooperation in the fields of mining, shipbuilding, food processing and tourism as well as opening a direct air route between Hà Nội and HCM City and Warsaw.

The PM also applauded the signing of a co-operation agreement in education, in which Poland agreed to increase the number of scholarships for Vietnamese students. 

He suggested the two countries enhance exchanges between students, especially in the field of Poland’s strength such as mining. 

Phúc proposed that Poland urge the EU to sign and ratify the EU-Việt Nam free trade agreement to bring about mutual benefits for both sides. 

He hoped the Polish President would create more favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community to live in Poland. 

During the State visit to Việt Nam by President Andrzej Duda, his spouse Agata Kornhauser Duda visited Marie Curie high school the same day and attended a ceremony to celebrate the 150th birthday anniversary of Polish scholar Marie Curie. 

She later visited the Temple of Literature in Hà Nội, which was included in the list of 23 national special relic sites. — VNS

Interesting facts about Poland-Việt Nam connections

  • The first book translated from Vietnamese to Polish was Truyện Kiều (The Tale of Kiều) written by Nguyễn Du. This translation was published in 1928.
  • Polish archeologist and architect Kazimierz “Kazik” Kwiatkowski was responsible for the restoration of Mỹ Sơn, Huế and Hội An. Thanks to his work, those sites were included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
  • Poland is one of the biggest exporters of apples in the world. Since October 10, 2015, Polish apples have been legally sold in Việt Nam and are available in many places throughout the country.
  • Between 1960 and 1970 Poland built or supplied more than 20 industrial facilities in Việt Nam, including the Hạ Long Shipyard, Gia Lâm Train Repair Factory and Cẩm Phả mine.
  • More than 5,000 Vietnamese have studied in Poland. Currently up to 350 students from Việt Nam are studying at universities in Poland.
  • Poland is the biggest trade partner for Việt Nam in Central-East Europe.
  • Polish female physicist and chemist Maria Skłodowska-Curie (also known as Marie Curie) is the only woman to receive two Nobel Prizes and the only Nobel Prize winner who received the prize in two different sciences. In Việt Nam, there are three schools named after her in Hà Nội, Hải Phòng and HCMC.
  • More than 30,000 Vietnamese are living in Poland. It is the fifth-largest overseas Vietnamese community in Europe after France, Germany, United Kingdom and Czech Republic.
  • Among the specialties of Nam Định Province, such as bánh gai Bà Thi (Madame Thi’s glutinous rice cake blackened in a concoction of edible leaves) and bánh nhãn Hải Hậu (Hải Hậu’s traditional longan like cake), there is one especially unique product: bánh mỳ Ba Lan (Polish bread). The bread is made in a bread factory. The factory was given to Việt Nam by Poland in the war time in 1969.
  • Polish people have won 17 Nobel prizes, including five for Literature. One of the Nobel prize winners, Mrs Wisława Szymborska, wrote a poem entitled ‘Vietnam’.
  • The most famous Vietnamese poem about Poland is Em ơi Ba Lan, written by renowned poet Tố Hữu. It was written after the author’s visit to Poland in 1959 and shows the difficult history of Poland as well as the writer’s respect for the country.  
  • There are many Polish books available in the Vietnamese language: Quo Vadis, Travels with Herodotus, The Shadow of the Sun, In Desert and Wilderness, Ashes and Diamonds, The Quack, Loneliness in the Net and many more.
  • Works of Vietnamese literature have also been translated into Polish. In Poland you can find the Polish versions of Truyện Kiều, Thơ, Nhật kí trong tù, Mặt trận trên cao, Việt Nam - Máu và hoa, Bốn mùa trôi qua, Miền Tây, Ánh trăng and many more.

Source: the Embassy of Poland in Hà Nội

 

 

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