Mumbai, Oct. 22 -- Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal asked business leaders to view the India-EU Free Trade Agreement as a catalyst for deeper economic and technological cooperation.
Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal has urged Polish companies to expand their presence in India through investment, manufacturing and technology partnerships, as he pitched the country's growth story to businesses from both nations at the India-Poland Business Forum on Thursday.
The event was attended by Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Sonowal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Poland in August 2024 elevated bilateral relations to a strategic partnership and created new opportunities for collaboration across trade, technology, investment and innovation.
"When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Poland in August 2024, he and Prime Minister Tusk elevated our relations to a strategic partnership. They did so with a clear conviction: the India-Poland relationship must not only be strong in diplomacy; it must also be strong in business, technology, investment and innovation," Sonowal said.
He said India offers the scale of a large and expanding market, a skilled workforce and a policy environment focused on reforms and enterprise.
Highlighting the complementarity between the two economies, Sonowal said Poland has established strengths in engineering, machinery, mining technologies, transport, environmental solutions and advanced manufacturing, while India provides market scale, talent and manufacturing capabilities.
"My message to Polish companies is: do not only sell to India. Build in India. Develop solutions in India. Find Indian partners. And use India as a platform for growth," he said.
Sonowal said India's target of achieving 500 GW of non-fossil fuel power capacity by 2030 is expected to create investment opportunities worth €280-300 billion across renewable energy, energy storage, transmission networks, green hydrogen, recycling and environmental technologies. He said Poland's expertise in mining, critical minerals and clean energy could contribute to these efforts.
Technology Collaboration Push
On the technology front, Sonowal noted that Indian IT companies have established Poland as a hub for European operations and collectively employ about 10,000 people in the country. He said future collaboration should extend beyond traditional IT services into artificial intelligence, quantum computing, 5G applications, digital infrastructure, smart manufacturing and space technologies.
To deepen engagement, Sonowal proposed the creation of a startup bridge, an innovation corridor and an AI and quantum dialogue connecting businesses, researchers and innovators in both countries.
Bilateral trade between India and Poland has reached $6.36 billion, while Indian investments in Poland exceed $3 billion, according to Sonowal. Polish companies are also expanding their presence in India across sectors including packaging, manufacturing, waste-to-energy and electric mobility.
Calling for a broader ambition, Sonowal said the two countries should aim beyond simply doubling trade by 2030.
"We should create together. We should innovate together. We should invest together. We should build trusted supply chains together. And we should succeed together," he said.
The minister also urged business leaders to view the India-EU free trade agreement as more than a trade pact, describing it as a potential catalyst for deeper economic and technological cooperation.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Infrastructure Today.