On the picture The King of the Belgians and President Andrzej Duda Poland.
By Baron Henri Estramant.
13-16 October 2015: A Belgian state visit was paid to the Republic of Poland, the second after the enthronement of King Philippus of the Belgians. The first one was to the PRC.
The delegation included not least than 150 prominent personalities. Including the Flemish Premier Geert Bourgeois, its Wallonian counterpart Paul Magnette, the Minister-President of Brussels Capital Region, Rudi Vervoort, the President of the French-speaking Community Rudy Demotte as well as the German-speaking Community, Oliver Paasch, moreover representatives from Belgian universities and numerous CEOs. Main criteria for participation was the commercial presence in the Polish market.
The Belgian Royal Couple was warmly welcomed at the Court of Honour at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw by the Polish presidential couple. The ceremony was followed by bilateral talks between the two heads of state, and a ceremony to lay a wreath at the grave of the unknown soldier, a meeting with the Speaker of the Diet, Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska and of the Senate, Bogdan Borusewicz. The day ended with a state banquet.
The second day’s highlight was a “Investment Power Lunch” attended by the heads of state, Belgian investors and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Janusz Piechociński. Thereafter a conference on the mobility of Polish and Belgian students took place much as a seminary on innovation, sciences and life. Likewise the Belgian royals visited the site of Warsaw Spire, a Polish-Belgian real estate project led by Ghelamco, and due to become the largest skyscraper of Warsaw.
On their last day in Poland Their Majesties paid a visit to the Warsaw Uprising Museum as well as to the Chopin Museum and the Museum of History of Polish Jews (POLIN).
It should be noted that HM Queen Mathilde of the Belgians is of maternal Polish extraction, her mother being Countess Anna Maria d’Udekem d’Acoz (née Countess Anna Maria Komorowska in Białogard, Poland). During the Communist period one uncle, Count Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski (1966- 1985) served as Commander-in-Chief and Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile.
For more information:
Polish Presidency: www.president.pl/en/
Belgian Monarchy: http://monarchie.be/fr/actualites
Polish Ministry of Economy: www.mg.gov.pl/
Embassy of Poland to Belgium, HE Ambassador Artur Harazim: http://www.bruksela.msz.gov.pl/fr/polish_embassy_in_Belgium
Embassy of Poland in The Hague, H. E. Ambassador Jan Borkowski:
http://www.haga.msz.gov.pl/en/
