欧美文化:Poland, S. Korea bet big on joint defense, energy industry projects

WARSAW, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Visiting South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, on Thursday highlighted historic high trade volume between the two countries and pledged to jointly work on big defense and energy industry projects.

After his talks with Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda, Yoon told a press conference that bilateral trade between Poland and South Korea has reached an all-time high and the two countries are also cooperating in infrastructure, defense and energy sectors.

Calling Poland as South Korea's most important investment partner, the president announced that Poland and South Korea have agreed to support the companies involved in the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Poland, which will use Korean technology.

Duda told reporters that the overall trade between the two countries reached around 10 billion U.S. dollars in 2022.

Poland has been a major buyer of Korean defense equipment. The two countries signed a 65-billion-zloty (16.4 billion U.S. dollars) arms deal last year.

Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced on Monday that the first consignment of South Korean FA-50 light combat jets had arrived in Poland, following the deliveries of K2 Black Panther battle tanks and K9 Thunder self-propelled gun howitzers also from South Korea.

At the press conference, Duda said he also aimed to build up the local production of defense equipment. "During President Yoon's visit we are working to ensure that this could happen," he said.