What to expect from state visit to China by Poland's president

Polish President Andrzej Duda arrived in Beijing Saturday night to begin a five-day state visit to China.

During the visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold talks with Duda to map out the future development of China-Poland relations, have an in-depth exchange of views on issues of common concern and jointly attend the signing ceremony of cooperation documents.

The upcoming meeting between the two leaders comes following Xi's 2016 state visit to Poland and Duda's trip to Beijing for the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

During this ongoing visit, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, will have separate meetings with the Polish president.

Duda will also attend the 15th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as Summer Davos, in Dalian on June 25.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Poland.

It is worth remembering that Poland was among the earliest nations to recognize the People's Republic of China, former Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said.

"Since then, bilateral relations have been developing prosperously in a mutually beneficial direction," Komorowski told CGTN in a recent interview.

"Today's China is a very appealing market, and it has no big differences from other global markets," he said, adding that it's fascinating to be able to observe the country's great changes and development.

For years, China has been Poland's second largest trading partner and Poland has been China's largest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe.

Over the past five years, bilateral trade between China and Poland has registered an average annual growth rate of more than 10 percent, and bilateral trade in 2023 hit $42 billion, according to Sun Linjiang, the Chinese ambassador to Poland.

In an article published Sunday in the newspaper People's Daily, Sun said Poland was one of the first countries to sign the intergovernmental memorandum of understanding with China on the Belt and Road Initiative.

There is an increasing presence of Chinese businesses in the Polish market, and their direct investment in the European country has totaled more than $4 billion, wrote the ambassador.

Polish beef and blueberries have been on the tables of Chinese families since an agreement over the products entering the Chinese market was signed last year, Sun said.

The state visit by the Polish president is sending a positive signal that China and Poland are committed to mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, and are working together to address challenges, he added.

"We believe that the meeting between the two heads of state will give new impetus to the development of relations between the two countries and between China and Europe," said the Chinese ambassador.