Children are “our greatest treasure” and “our hope for the future,” Poland’s First Lady said on Friday as the country observed Children's Day.

Polish President Andrzej Duda (centre-right) and First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda (centre) attend a Children’s Day event in the eastern town of Biała Podlaska on Friday. Photo: PAP/Wojciech Pacewicz

Agata Kornhauser-Duda, a teacher by professional background, was speaking in the eastern town of Biała Podlaska where she was taking part in a Children’s Day event together with President Andrzej Duda.

Earlier in the day the Polish presidential couple appeared in a special video message on Twitter in which they addressed young Poles, wishing them happiness, joy and love.

"Dear children, on Children's Day, we wish you all the best, lots of fun and joy," the First Lady said in the message.

The president said: "Today and always, we wholeheartedly wish you all the happiness and love in the world, and may your dreams always come true. Enjoy your successes and do not give up when the going gets tough. May you be surrounded with kindness and loving care. May you never be in want of friends.”

Other top officials also chimed in as Poland observed Children's Day.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in a tweet referred to a message by Polish-Jewish teacher, doctor and Holocaust victim Janusz Korczak, who once said that “When a child laughs, the whole world laughs.”

Poland was on Friday marking Children's Day, a tradition followed in the country since 1952 when it was initiated by the International Union for Protection of Childhood, the PAP news agency reported.

Not all countries observe Children's Day on June 1, PAP noted.

The United Nations’ Universal Children's Day is each year celebrated on November 20, the anniversary of the adoption of the 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, PAP reported.

(gs/pk)

Source: PAP, TVP Info