Ambassador Roman Iwaszkiewicz

On the occasion of Poland's Independence Day, November 11, Viet Nam News presents an article by Roman Iwaszkiewicz, Polish Ambassador to Viet Nam.November 11 marks the 94th anniversary of Poland's regained independence, which followed a 123-year struggle against its assailant neighbours.

The spectre of foreign invasions continued in Poland, and in Viet Nam, well into the 20th century, but – to paraphrase Nietzsche – that which did not kill us made us stronger.

Our countries entered the 21st century as close friends and robust economies. Today's national day is an opportune time to examine how these achievements and ongoing economic successes may contribute to elevating our mutual relations to new heights.

Poland and Viet Nam share a long and tested friendship that has survived the vicissitudes of history. Poland's dynamism today and Viet Nam's long-term potential offer an unparalleled opportunity to strengthen our partnership.

The recent global economic turmoil has tested the foundations of various countries' development models. Poland went into the crisis as one of the European Union's most vibrant economies, having multiplied its national income over the past two decades.

 

Exceptional development: A view of the Warsaw Centre. — Photo M Cieszewski/www.poland.gov.pl

Remarkably, Poland's position as leader of growth has only strengthened through the crisis, as the country is the only EU member state to have maintained continuous and solid economic growth in recent years. Today, Poland is the sixth largest economy in the EU and the twentieth largest in the world. Its macroeconomic and financial situation remains exceptionally stable – with safe debt levels, low rate of inflation, relatively robust domestic demand and exports sector, and a reliable banking system.

Poland's economic successes stem from prudent governmental policies, but also from deeper structural factors such as a young and educated workforce, entrepreneurial and innovative population, deeply rooted civil society, and a culture of research and academic excellence. Such factors have propelled the exceptional development in Poland of state-of-the-art technologies in numerous areas, including environmental protection, shipbuilding and mining.

Economic relations between Poland and Viet Nam have developed vigorously, with trade turnover doubling every couple of years. In 2012, Polish companies undertook first investments in high technology sectors in Viet Nam and bilateral trade is expected to reach around US$1 billion.

Such developments are welcome but still do not match the true potential of our co-operation. This is why the Polish government has prepared a select list of state-of-the-art Polish technologies whose transfer to Viet Nam it stands ready to support with advantageous financial instruments.

Among priority sectors are: joint scientific endeavours, environmental protection, shipbuilding, mining and conservation of historic sites. For instance, Viet Nam has been selected as one of our top destinations in the world in terms of promoting the coal mining sector. Poland's supremely competitive GreenEvo prog-ramme, which is run by the Polish Ministry of Environment and which assembles together the best environmental protection solutions that Poland's private sector has to offer, eyes the Vietnamese market for green technology transfers and its delegations visited the country already three times.

Polish specialists pioneered the conservation of Viet Nam's historic sites – such as Hoi An, My Son and Hue; in recent years we have continued such efforts in Hue and are looking forward to further engagements in other provinces.

I hope that such targeted efforts, when coupled with increasing recognition in Viet Nam of Poland's economic dynamism and competitiveness, will elicit further growth in Polish-Vietnamese economic co-operation. The Embassy of Poland in Ha Noi has been active in promoting that goal and is ready to support any additional initiatives in this vein. — VNS