India and Poland have renewed a pact for promoting cultural exchanges and decided to invigorate their economic and defence ties. The pact was inked after the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh held delegation-level talks with his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk .The two leaders discussed a wide range of bilateral and global issues, including intensification of trade and investment and the UN reforms. The two sides discussed a slew of new initiatives in defence cooperation, sources said. India showed an interest in the Polish offer to supply tank recovery vehicles, and the two sides agreed to take forward talks in this area. The proposal for selling tank recovery vehicles was made by Poland during Defence Minister A.K. Antony's visit to Warsaw in April to attend the joint working group meeting on defence cooperation. A tank recovery vehicle is a type of armoured fighting vehicle used to repair battle or mine damaged as well as broken down vehicles during combat operations, or to tow them out of the danger zone for more extensive repairs. Poland also reiterated its support for India's candidature to the permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council. AIR correspondent reports that Poland has a strong tradition of Indology. The first chair of Sanskrit studies was established in Krakow more than a century ago in 1893. Chairs on Indian studies have also been established in other cities of Poland. Similarly, Polish is being taught in Delhi University since 2009. Poland, which takes over the presidency of the European Union in the second half of the next year, assured India that the EU was keen to expedite a key free trade agreement (FTA) with India. Bilateral trade between India and Poland has exceeded $1 billion, more than a five-fold jump from a mere 200 million Dollars in 2004. The trade includes sectors such as agro, textiles, defence, heavy engineering, mining, IT and agro food processing. Many Indian companies, including Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services, have set up their European headquarters in Poland.