Belgian State Visit To Poland: Days Two and Three

The second day of the Belgian State Visit to Poland, Wednesday October 14, started with a separate program for King Philippe and Queen Mathilde.

In the morning the King had a meeting at the Parliament along with Didier Reynders, Belgium’s Foreign Minister, and other polish politicians. Among other topics it was discussed about the situation in Syria and Ukraine. Afterward King Philippe visited the headquarters of the Belgian bakery group “La Lorraine”. The King, welcomed by the bakery group CEO Guido Vanherpe, presided at the launch of the company in Poland and made a tour of the warehouse.

In the meantime Queen Mathilde, accompanied by First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda, attended the conference “Taking a small child in nurseries and kindergartens. Supporting the development of the autonomy of the child.” at the Foundation House of Literature.
Later the Queen and the First Lady visited the Wolfgang Goethe college, a bilingual Polish-German High School.

At lunchtime King Philippe and President Andrzej Duda had a meeting with Polish and Belgian investors.

In early afternoon the Royal Couple paid a visit to the Center for Nature and Forest Education. The Center aims to spread knowledge about the environment. At the presence of the Mayor of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, the King planted a beech tree donated by the Belgian foresters.

Later King Philippe attended two seminars; the first one at the University of Warsaw about the mobility of Polish and Belgian students in the presence of students from Poland and Belgium and representatives of Belgian scientific institutions where it was stressed the importance of the students exachange; the second one took place at the Hotel Mercure Warszawa Grand and it was about “The successes that reinforce ties: Polish-Walloon cooperation”.

Queen Mathilde was visiting the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews. The Museum, situated on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto, is dedicated to the history of Jews in Poland. The Queen made a tour through the permanent exhibition that shows 1,000 years of history of Polish Jews, from the Middle Ages to the present.

In the evening, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde held a reception for the President of Poland and his wife at the Royal Theater in the Old Orangery. They attended a concert held by the Belgian National Orchestra that performed “Triptych” by Alexander Tansman.

Today, Thursday October 15, the last day of the State Visit, the Royal Couple along with the Polish President and his wife, paid a visit to the Warsaw Uprising Museum. The Museum is dedicated to those who fought and died for the freedom of Poland in 1944.
They were welcomed by the Museum’s Director Jan Oldakowski and Vice-Director Dariusz Gawin.

At the end of the visit at the Museum, the King and the Queen left Poland to return to Belgium.

Filed under Belgium
Tagged Bilateral Relations, Children, Education, Environment, King Philippe of the Belgians, Museum, Parliament, Poland, President Duda of Poland, Queen Mathilde of the Belgians, State Visit.