Polish president to visit S. Korea

By Yoo Cheong-mo
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- Polish President Lech Kaczynski plans to make an
official visit to South Korea on Dec. 5-7 for summit talks with South Korean
President Lee Myung-bak, South Korea's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said
Sunday.
"Lee and Kaczynski will hold a summit on Dec. 5 for discussions on expanding
practical economic exchanges between the two countries and boosting bilateral
cooperation on the global financial crisis and the denuclearization of North
Korea," Cheong Wa Dae said in a brief statement.
Poland is South Korea's largest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe,
with Korean companies having contributed to the development of key industrial
sectors there, including electronics, said the statement.
"Kaczynski's upcoming visit is expected to help upgrade bilateral relations, as
the two countries are to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of
bilateral diplomatic ties in 2009," it noted.
In October, Lee held talks with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on the
sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting in Beijing, where the two agreed to back
South Korean companies seeking to participate in Poland's massive infrastructure
expansion projects.
Poland is planning to build a 440 million euro LNG storage facility and two to
three nuclear power plants by 2012 and significantly expand its road, railroad
and Internet networks in coming years.
At the Beijing talks, Lee expressed a particularly strong interest in the nuclear
power plant projects, saying that South Korean companies boast the world's best
safety technology and know-how in the field of nuclear power generation.
Lee then promoted the superiority of the South Korean-built T-50 plane, as the
Polish government is reportedly moving to import pilot-training planes.
ycm@yna.co.kr
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