E-Paper
Poland confers highest civil award on Indian businessman
Poland has conferred the Commander Cross on Indian businessman Vijay Kalantri for his contributions to promoting trade.
Poland has conferred the Commander Cross, its highest civilian award, on Indian businessman Vijay Kalantri for his contributions to promoting trade and commerce between the two counties.
Kalantri, a 56-year-old Mumbai-based businessman, is chairman of Balaji Ind-Exim Pvt Ltd. He is also president of the Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the All India Association of Industries.
He was the prime mover behind the exhibition India Initiative 2005 that concluded here Sunday.
A dynamic personality, Kalantri was specially invited by Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka, who granted him an audience Monday afternoon.
Speaking to IANS after the meeting, Kalantri said: "The prime minister was highly appreciative of the progress made by India in the past decade or so and he is very keen to promote political and trade relations with India."
"To Belka, India is becoming an economic superpower and Poland should put more emphasis on India," he said.
"He is hopeful that leading Indian personalities, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will visit Poland in the near future to cement the friendly relations between the two sides.
"At the same time, Belka wants to see new heights in business between the two countries and expects that trade will cross $1 billion by 2010 from $400 million at present," Kalantri said.
Belka assured Kalantri that Indian businessmen would be given multi-journey visas to Poland in the near future. Currently they are given only single-entry visas that restrict their mobility.
"India and Poland have recently completed 50 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations and never in their history have they had any problems in their relationship," said Indian Ambassador Anil Wadhwa, who accompanied Kalantri when he called on Prime Minister Belka.
