photo - Jacek Turczyk
Komorowski's official trip to China began Sunday, and on Tuesday he took part in an academic forum in Beijing, where he was joined by Minister of Science and Higher Education Barbara Kudrycka and rectors of some of Poland's leading universities.
This is the first visit by a Polish president to China in 14 years, the purpose of the trip being to promote stronger economic and cultural ties between the two countries.
“I would like Polish-Chinese relations to find a new expression in the framework of cooperation between academic centres, higher education and the academic community,” he said at the forum in the Chinese capital.
Komorowski noted that “huge investments” had been made in the Polish educational system, and that all universities offered courses in English.
“Poland is a wide open door through which one can enter the whole of Europe. We warmly welcome you,” he said.
Minister of Science and Higher Education Barbara Kudrycka noted that allowing students to “draw knowledge from other nations was the best way of guaranteeing that they attain perfection."
Chinese Minister of Education Hao Ping said that the Polish participation in the forum was “a great event” and cited such luminaries as astronomer Copernicus and chemist Marie Curie as examples of historic Polish achievements in the field of academia.
According to the latest statistics, there are currently 30 million students in China, 300,000 of whom study abroad each year.
Following the forum, Poland's Lodz Polytechnic signed a declaration of cooperation with China's Universiry of Minz.
President Komorowski was then taken to witness Beijing's former imperial glory at the Forbidden City. Later in the evening, the Chinese president Hu Jintao will host a dinner in honour of his Polish guests.
North Korea invitation
Meanwhile, China said it would welcome a visit by new North Korean leader Kim Jong-un following the death of his father Kim Jong-il,
China's President Hu Jintao visited the North Korean embassy in Beijing to express his condolences, yesterday.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said he had "no information" about whether Jong-un would be welcome to visit China. But later he clarified: "I want to add that China and North Korea have always kept up high-level visits, and we welcome the North Korean leader to visit at a convenient time to both sides." (nh/pg)