Duda arrived in Doha, Qatar on Saturday where his schedule will be entirely dominated by the agenda of the Fifth UN Conference of Underdeveloped Countries (LDC5).
In Qatar and in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, Polish food and energy cooperation will be high on the President’s agenda, his chief aide Marcin Przydacz has said.
Following his visit to Qatar on Monday, Duda will fly to the United Arab Emirates, where he is set to stay until Wednesday.
Prior to the president’s departure, Przydacz told reporters that the President wanted to improve the chances of Polish entrepreneurs in the Middle East.
"The role of Polish diplomacy … is to open doors and give the green light to Polish businesses that want to operate on Asian, African or Middle Eastern markets," he said as quoted by IAR.
According to Przydacz, Duda wants to focus on promoting Polish food in Qatar and open new markets for Polish farmers.
"At the same time, [Middle Eastern countries] export energy commodities," Przydacz noted, adding that "in order to protect Europe from any Russian influence in terms of energy, it is necessary to seek new paths of cooperation and new partners."
Przydacz also said that apart from drumming up business, another purpose of Duda’s trip to the region was counteracting Russian propaganda, noting that as Asian as well as African countries had faced strong pressure from the Russian narrative.
"Today we need to explain to our partners from the South what the Russian invasion of Ukraine is and what its causes and goals are," Przydacz told reporters.
(mo)
Source: IAR