Polish PM's visit to reinforce bilateral ties: Ambassador Joanna Skoczek

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will pay an official visit to Vietnam from October 24 to 26, 2026, at the invitation of Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung.

On this occasion, Polish Ambassador to Vietnam Joanna Skoczek granted an interview to the media on the significance of the visit and prospects for boosting bilateral cooperation.

Regarding the significance of and expectations for Prime Minister Donald Tusk's visit, Ambassador Joanna Skoczek noted that the trip takes place 16 years after his first visit to Vietnam as Prime Minister of Poland and nearly two years after Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to Warsaw, where the two leaders discussed ways to expand bilateral relations across various fields, particularly economics.

The Ambassador emphasized that Poland and Vietnam are currently leading economies in their respective regions, with Poland among the countries with high GDP growth in the European Union (EU), and Vietnam among the high-GDP-growth economies in Southeast Asia and Asia overall, thereby opening up new cooperation opportunities.

The two countries will continue to promote relations based on a solid foundation of friendship cultivated over many years while looking to the future to identify areas with the greatest cooperation prospects, including education, trade, cooperation at international forums, culture, and people-to-people exchange. The Ambassador expressed confidence that the talks and meetings between the Polish Prime Minister and Vietnamese leaders will comprehensively address these fields, focusing on economic cooperation and international developments in each region and globally, while several important documents will be signed to reinforce the legal framework for bilateral relations.

Assessing bright spots in bilateral trade as Poland serves as an important trade partner for Vietnam in Central and Eastern Europe, and Vietnam ranks as Poland's top trade partner in Southeast Asia, Ambassador Joanna Skoczek stated that bilateral trade turnover has grown continuously, surpassing US$8 billion in 2025.

The set goal is to expand and enhance the quality of trade and services while spurring faster and stronger growth in Polish exports to Vietnam by identifying market segments and high-value economic sectors that meet the growing demands of Vietnamese consumers for new products, emerging trends, and advanced technologies.

With regar to specific business cooperation areas within the framework of the visit, the diplomat said that the two sides will hold crucial discussions on pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, defense industry, dual-use technology, and space cooperation, among others.

She expressed pride in the growing presence of Polish enterprises at Vietnam's major annual trade fairs held in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi across food and beverages, information technology, pharmaceuticals, beauty, and mining.

Especially concerning the green economy and circular economy, the Ambassador noted that Poland, having undergone its own environmental transition, can share and provide water and waste treatment services and technologies, circular economy solutions, land remediation and restoration, and solutions to help Vietnam better manage and respond to increasingly pronounced climate change consequences.

On potential cooperation in digital transformation, innovation, and green development, Ambassador Joanna Skoczek observed that Vietnam and Poland share many similarities, having both started from a low technological base while achieving remarkable progress in digitalization in recent years.

She shared that Poland has substantial practical experience to exchange, citing its online tax filing and refund system that allows citizens to complete procedures in under five minutes, as well as the "mobile citizen" system named mObywatel, which is similar to Vietnam's VNeID. Additionally, the Central European nation holds leading strengths in cybersecurity and banking transaction security, alongside an e-health system developed extensively since the COVID-19 pandemic that enables online medical consultations and electronic prescriptions via unique identifiers.

The Ambassador stressed that sharing these models and discussing their broader international application must ensure personal data protection and maximum user security, a key factor enabling businesses to confidently expand operations, invest, and securely exchange data.

Evaluating people-to-people, cultural, and educational exchanges, Ambassador Joanna Skoczek affirmed that the Vietnamese community in Poland is one of the largest and best-integrated, valuing family, possessing a strong community spirit, and demonstrating business dynamism as it enters its third generation. She highly appreciated the community's efforts to preserve cultural heritage, traditions, and the Vietnamese language, stressing the need for people who are not only proficient in the language but also deeply understand the culture and traditions of both countries.

In culture and publishing, the Ambassador proudly noted that nearly 130 Polish books have been translated into Vietnamese thanks to veteran translators, while expressing hope for a new generation of young translators to continue this work and translate more Vietnamese literary works into Polish.

Concerning education, she said that her nation offers numerous scholarship programs, with the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange selecting Vietnam as one of four priority countries, thereby opening up more educational and scientific exchange opportunities for the youth of both nations.

Tourism is also developing positively with warm hospitality extended to visitors from both sides. Concluding the interview, Ambassador Joanna Skoczek expressed her expectation that Prime Minister Donald Tusk's visit will serve as an excellent opportunity to turn these cooperation foundations into concrete, practical, and sustainable projects.

She expressed hope that following the visit, more Polish people will follow in the Prime Minister's footsteps to Vietnam to seek cooperation and business opportunities.

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