Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and his Canadian counterpart David McGuinty signed the letter of intent during talks in Ottawa on Tuesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Canada is the only non-EU country participating in the SAFE programme, an EU initiative aimed at strengthening Europe’s defence industry and security capabilities.
"We will sell the best Polish military equipment to Canada," Kosiniak-Kamysz said after the signing ceremony.
He said the cooperation would focus primarily on exports of Polish-made drones and weapons systems produced by domestic defence firm WB Group, including the FlyEye reconnaissance drone, the Warmate loitering munition and the Gladius system.
"This equipment symbolises the development of Polish technological expertise in the defence industry,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said. “I hope it will serve the Canadian armed forces well.”
Kosiniak-Kamysz also announced plans for deeper military cooperation, including joint exercises involving Polish, Canadian and broader NATO forces in the Arctic.
“Poland is taking responsibility for the whole of NATO, which is why we will send our soldiers to Polish-Canadian, more broadly NATO, Arctic exercises,” he said.
While in Ottawa, Kosiniak-Kamysz was set to visit the CanSec defence trade fair on Wednesday, where Poland is serving as this year's featured country.
He added that Canada would hold a similar guest country status at the MSPO defence industry exhibition in the Polish city of Kielce in September, which is expected to be attended by a Canadian government delegation.
According to Kosiniak-Kamysz, additional agreements are expected to be signed during the September event, including a memorandum on cooperation between the two countries’ cyber defence forces and a separate agreement on defence guarantees.
Earlier on Tuesday, Kosiniak-Kamysz and McGuinty took part in a Polish-Canadian Defence Forum focused on expanding defence industry cooperation between the two countries.
Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday that Canada was playing an increasingly important role in European security and was "closer to Europe than ever before."
Defence ties between Poland and Canada have expanded in recent years.
After a meeting in Warsaw last August between Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney, the two countries signed a bilateral defence cooperation plan and established a working group on defence industry cooperation.
In April, the first meeting of a Canadian-Polish steering committee was held in Ottawa to identify new opportunities in trade, investment, energy and defence cooperation.
Earlier this year, the Canadian embassy in Warsaw hosted a Defence Industry Day event aimed at encouraging Poland’s procurement of defence and aerospace capabilities from Canadian suppliers.
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Source: IAR, PAP