Thailand and Poland: Strengthening Partnership
Celebrating The National Day of Poland
Poland and Thailand have been linked by bonds of friendship and mutual respect for over 50 years. We can note with satisfaction the achievements so far in economic and investment cooperation. At the same time, we can see great potential for further intensification of our joint activities, specifically in the area of Polish-Thai political cooperation, investment and defence industries.
I deeply believe, despite the difficult international situation caused by the Russian aggression against Ukraine last year, our common efforts to further develop our good relations will bring good results, strengthening our cooperation and gaining new dynamics to the benefit of our nations.
We are proud of our country, its great history, its heroes and its merits, like our victory in the Battle of Warsaw that in 1920 stopped the communist Russian invasion of Europe and gave the world two decades of peace.
Today, we all are faced again with an attack on freedom of our neighbour and friend – Ukraine – an attack that is threatening the stability of the entire international rule-based order.The world, including Poland and Thailand as members of the peace loving international community, should strongly and persistently support Ukraine in this fight. We should assist Ukrainian military efforts and address the issue of the Russian ideology that they use to justify their aggressive policy, and we need to point to Russia’s responsibility for the food shortages and economic slowdown in many countries, including in Asia.
Poland was founded over 1050 years ago. Our kings together with our nation were able to build over centuries a powerful state, covering the biggest territory in Europe at that time, which was a home of many nations, resembling the Union of Central Europe. For several centuries, Poles lived in that state in peace together with Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Lithuanians, Germans, Estonians and Latvians, Jews and Romanians.
Today, we often refer to that distant past while building close cooperation with our neighbours in the region of Central Europe. This region, which stretches from Poland in the north to the Black and Mediterranean Seas in the south, has enormous potential. It consists of almost twenty countries with many common geopolitical interests, and our cooperation can bring a tremendous future for all of us.
Currently, Poland is growing stronger, developing an innovative economy within the European Union and building the stability of the entire region within NATO. The path to today's free, safe and strong Poland and Central Europe began in 1979, when the greatest Pole in history, Pope John Paul II, arrived in Poland, then occupied by the Soviet Union, and called “to renew the face of the Earth". He was listened to by the people who created “Solidarity”, a ten-million strong, non-violent liberation movement, and thus began the collapse of the Russian totalitarian empire. Ten years later, the old Soviet regimes were removed, and the countries of Central Europe began our pathways to joining NATO and the EU.
When we celebrate our National Day, we can feel proud and full of joy that for three decades now we have had one of the most dynamic economic growths in the world, second only to China, and as a result, our GDP per capita is surpassing that of many leading global economies.
I am very glad that Thailand is an important partner for today's Poland. We share many similar experiences and traditions; we are both freedom-loving nations; our economic and investment cooperation is growing and more and more citizens of Thailand are visitingPoland while Poles are travelling here.
To conclude, let me quote the bea utiful words of Pope John Paul II: "Patriotism means love for all that belongs to the homeland: love of history, tradition, language or the landscape itself. It is love that also embraces the works of compatriots and the fruits of their genius. Every threat to this good, which is the homeland, becomes a test of this love."
I am certain that the Thai people, with your own rich history and culture, will understand well the Polish traditions of bravery and love of homeland.
Artur Dmochowski
Ambassador of the Republic of Poland
to the Kingdom of Thailand
