Media release
7 October 2009
Visit to Poland
I spent today, Wednesday 7 October, in Warsaw on my first official visit to Poland.
This is the first visit to Poland by an Australian Foreign Minister since 2002.
Australia and Poland have strong people-to-people links, with over 160,000 people of Polish ancestry living in Australia. A large number of those people came to Australia in the post World War II period as well as in the 1980’s following the imposition of martial law. The Polish community has made an important contribution to Australian society.
This afternoon Poland’s Minister for Labour, Ms Jolanta Fedak, and I signed the Australia-Poland Social Security Agreement.
This agreement will provide improved access to pensions by allowing people who have lived part of their adult lives in both Australia and Poland to claim pension entitlements from both countries.
Poland, the largest of the new European Union (EU) member states, is a valuable partner for Australia. My visit reflects Australia’s commitment to engaging more closely with the EU and its member states.
This morning I met the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Radosław Sikorski. Our discussions focussed on shared interests, including our mutual commitment to Afghanistan. Poland has more than 2,000 personnel in Afghanistan.
We also talked about our cooperation on other issues of global concern, including disarmament and non-proliferation. Both Poland and Australia are active members of the Proliferation Security Initiative and we look forward to continuing this important work together.
Minister Sikorski updated me on developments in the field of European security, including the joint Polish-French initiative to develop closer defence relations between the EU and NATO, European missile defence, and EU-Russia relations.
As well, representatives of the Australian business community briefed me on their trade and investment successes in Poland.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, which began with the Third Reich’s attack on Poland in September 1939.
I visited the Warsaw Ghetto where so many Jewish people suffered terribly during the war. Later in the day, I laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw in memory of the 46 Australian war dead who died in World War II and were buried in Poland. I also visited the Warsaw uprising monument.
Media inquiries:
- Mr Smith's office 02 6277 7500
- Departmental Media Liaison 02 6261 1555