20:23 22 September 2020
Reconciliation between Poland and India as side effect of the US-China trade war
The countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) look more and more boldly at India as an important partner that is an economic, political and ideological counterbalance to China.
Due to the dynamic growth of India as an important economic force on a global scale, economic relations between it and the countries of CEE have started to improve and strengthen over the last 20 years; however, they are still relatively weak given the potential.
The value of bilateral trade between the entire region and India is currently estimated at just $6 billion. According to data from the World Bank, in 2018 the value of Indian imports to Poland amounted to only $2.1 billion, which makes this country a less important source of goods and services for Poland than, for example, Kazakhstan, Vietnam or Turkey.
In turn, the value of Polish exports to India was then $819 million, less than exports to Saudi Arabia or Canada. The most important reason for starting the process of tightening relations between Warsaw and other Central European capitals and Delhi is to be the effects of the conflict between Western countries and China.
The CEE countries are beginning to see India not only as a safer and easier trading partner, but also as a democratic country, ideologically closer to them than to communist China.
