Boris Johnson has said Britain looks forward to welcoming a new generation of Polish immigrants, after visiting a language school in the Polish capital on Saturday.

During a media address in Warsaw alongside his Polish counterpart, Witold Waszczykowski, the foreign secretary only briefly alluded to the killing in Harlow of Polish man Arkadiusz Jóźwik.

Johnson said: “London is the most welcoming, multicultural, happening city on earth – no disrespect to Warsaw – and there is no room for xenophobia.”

In his address moments earlier, Waszczykowski had reminded Johnson of a conversation the two had had on the phone after the British foreign secretary’s appointment: “I mentioned the status of Polish citizens in the United Kingdom and he said ‘whatever you do, don’t take them back, Britain needs them for its economy’.

“So I hope the government and security services will make sure there are no manifestations of xenophobia in Britain.”

Johnson had earlier visited a British Council language school in Warsaw and said he had been impressed. “Some of them were as young as eight. We look forward to welcoming them to Britain in a few years’ time.”

He added that he wanted relations between the two countries to go from “good to great”.

Johnson is making a short stopover in Poland on his way back to Britain after attending the EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Bratislava. He flew Waszczykowski back to Warsaw in an RAF plane and he said he looked forward to having a beer with the Polish foreign minister after “laborious” EU talks in Bratislava.