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At the invitation of the Poland-China Friendship Association (PCFA), President Chen Haosu, heading the CPAFFC Delegation, paid a visit to Poland from February 21 to 27 and attended the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the PCFA. During the visit, President Chen Haosu met with Adam Szejnfeld, secretary of state of the Ministry of Economy, Ryszard Schnepf, deputy minister offoreign affairs, and Alicja Olechowska, vice chairperson of the Poland-China Friendship Group in Parliament, and had talks with governors of the provinces of Kujawsko-Pomorskie and Gdansk-Pomorskie, and mayor of Torun City. He also met with presidents of the Poland-East Cooperation Association, the Polish Esperanto Association, the Polish Men of Letters Association, and the chairman of Adam Marszalek Publishing House. PCFA President Zdzislaw Goralczyk accompanied the delegation all through their visit in Poland.

50th Anniversary of PCFA

On February 22, the PCFA held a commemorative meeting of the 50th anniversary of its establishment in Warsaw. Former leaders of the PCFA, and leading members and activists of the PCFAs 10 provincial and municipal branches, totaling about 100 people were present. At the meeting, President Zdzislaw Goralczyk recalled the twists and turns of the 50-year experience of the PCFA, and reiterated the aims of the organization to unswervingly promote friendship with China. He stressed that whatever difficulties the PCFA may face, its national and local organizations will persistently stand for friendship with the Chinese people and making use of all social resources to promote the cause of Poland-China friendship.

With emotion President Chen Haosu recalled the great efforts made by leaders of the old, middle-aged and young generations and activists of the PCFA in the past half a century for China-Poland friendship, and highly appraised their firm confidence in China-Poland friendship under difficult conditions and their tirelessly working for improving and expanding their organization, and holding various activities. He also enthusiastically looked to the bright future of the development of the cause of China-Poland friendship.

At the meeting, Chinese Ambassador to Poland Sun Rongmin said now it has come to a time for the two countries to have all-round cooperation between the governments, parliaments and parties, and in the fields of economy, culture and media.

The PCFA was founded in 1958. It has undergone two major ups and downs in the early 1960s and the early 1990s during which its work came to a standstill. In 2000, former Polish Ambassador to China Zdzislaw Goralczyk was elected president of the PCFA, and since then, the organization gradually resumed its work. By the end of 2007, the PCFA has established and reopened its subsidiary organizations in eleven provinces and cities, with hundreds of individual members and various group members including writers, artists, publishers, as well as railway, ocean transportation and tourism organizations. The quickly recovered PCFA is actively helping friendly personages of all circles and social organizations carry out exchange activities in areas of economy, trade, science and technology, culture, education, sports and tourism.

Polish Government and Parliament Paying Attention to China-Poland Cooperation

In his meeting with the delegation, Adam Szejnfeld, secretary of state of the Ministry of Economy, said the Polish government attaches great importance to the friendly relations with China, and Vice Premier Zeng Peiyans visit to Poland last January has forcefully pushed forward the development of bilateral relations. The Polish Ministry of Economy is in charge of the establishment of friendship-cities and cooperation between the two countries. In 2008 and the years to come, China will hold the Olympic Games and the Shanghai World Expo, and Poland will host the European Football Championship in 2012. Poland and China should make good use of these opportunities to set up a strategic goal for their cooperation and caring out exchanges and cooperation in the economic, cultural, art, and other fields.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ryszard Schnepf said, the Polish government fully recognized the importance of friendship associations of Poland and China. Now more and more people are devoted to promoting all-round cooperation between the two countries.

In her meeting with the delegation, Alicja Olechowska, vice chairperson of the Poland-China Friendship Group in Parliament, said that the Group is the biggest one in the Parliament. China is a hot topic in Polands Parliament; Chinas economic success, the Beijing Olympics, the Shanghai World Expo and so forth are often spoken about. More and more Polish young people are getting interested in China and choose to learn Chinese. The Polish Government and the Parliament appreciate the role of the PCFA in carrying out work for people-to-people friendship with China, and both have expressed they will continue to support the PCFA in its effort to expand areas for friendly cooperation with China.

During their discussions, President Chen Haosu briefedabout Chinas achievements in economic and social development, and proposed that the friendship organizations of the two countries can jointly hold commemorative activities to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Poland in 2009, expressing the wish of the CPAFFC to develop the cause offriendly cooperation with the Polish people and local governments.

Cooperation between Chinese and Polish Local Governments

During the visit, the delegation had talks with the governors of Kujawsko-Pomorskie Province and Gdansk-Pomorskie Province and the mayor of Torun City. The Polish local leaders made detailed briefings for the delegation on the development of their international cooperation and current economic, trade and investment situations. They expressed desire to continue to expand areas for cooperation and exchanges between the friendship cities and between the local governments of the two countries. The mayor of Torun said they held a celebration of Chinese New Year this year at the municipal square, which attracted a great number of people to come and enjoy the traditional Chinese performances such as dragon dance and lion dance. The Nicholas Copernicus University of Torun hopes to have academic exchanges with Chinese educational institutions. Head of the Economic Development Department of Kujawsko-Pomorskie showed the delegation photos and film documentaries, and expressed wish to have economic cooperation with Chinese provinces and cities. Gdansk-Pomorskie also expressed the same wish. Both Polish local governments and the PCFA proposed to cooperate with the CPAFFC to jointly hold China-Poland friendship cities conference.