Mateusz Morawiecki made the statement at a news conference in Bucharest on Tuesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Earlier, the Polish prime minister and his Cabinet ministers took part in two-way talks with their Romanian counterparts, according to officials.
Morawiecki also attended a Polish-Romanian business forum.
At a joint news conference afterwards, Morawiecki and Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă were asked about bilateral defence cooperation and Western deliveries of weapons to help Ukraine fight Russia's invasion.
Poland, Romania 'cooperate in many areas of defence policy'
Morawiecki said that Poland and Romania “cooperate in many areas of defence policy.” He mentioned joint purchases of military equipment, training programmes, hardware maintenance and purchases of weapons for Ukraine.
The Polish prime minister also thanked Romania for deploying its soldiers to Poland as part of NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence on the alliance’s eastern flank.
He noted that Polish soldiers were also stationed in Romania as part of a multinational NATO battlegroup.
Morawiecki said these deployments “demonstrate how real our alliance is and how serious we are about our allied commitments.”
Meanwhile, Romania’s Ciucă said he and his Polish counterpart also discussed ways to boost the potential of the two countries' defence industries to ensure the supply of equipment and ammunition, which he said was “a priority at the moment.”
'Similar path,' shared goals
Morawiecki also said that the Polish-Romanian intergovernmental talks “showed the coherence of our policies.”
He added: “After 1989, our countries followed a similar path. The bridge to the West was based on the cooperation within NATO and the European Union, as well as economic freedom, which improves the social conditions and development opportunities of our countries.”
The Polish prime minister told reporters that Poland and Romania last year “became connected through sharing three goals: energy independence from Russia, support for Ukraine, and modernisation of the army.”
He said: “By leveraging our similar experiences, we make our voice heard more clearly in the European Union, the United States and the whole world.”
Morawiecki said that Poland and Romania had to tackle “the problem of Ukrainian grain, which has been flowing into the countries in the eastern part of the EU.”
He added that “the European Commission promised that this grain would travel to Africa and the Middle East,” but due to “procedural flaws and delays,” some of the grain, as well as other agricultural products, “remains within our borders, driving down prices.”
The prime minister vowed that Poland would “do everything over the coming weeks to address this problem.”
Morawiecki said that, thanks to joint efforts by Poland and Romania, the two countries “are already receiving some funds” from the EU’s executive Commission to deal with the issue and “this assistance will be stepped up.”
'Natural allies in EU’
The Polish prime minister described Poland and Romania as “natural allies in the EU.” He stated: “By cooperating, we can give an impulse to proper development within the EU and other formats.”
He stressed the role of the Polish-led Three Seas Initiative, which aims to boost infrastructure, energy and business ties among 12 countries between the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Seas: Poland, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The initiative’s key partners include the European Union and the United States.
Morawiecki said that one of its projects, dubbed Rail-2-Sea, foresees a rail line all the way from Poland’s Baltic Sea port of Gdańsk to Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta.
The Polish prime minister also hailed the planned Via Carpathia transnational highway network from Lithuania to Greece, which he described as “a flagship project” designed to connect “Poland, Romania and the entire eastern part of the EU.”
Morawiecki said that Poland and Romania had a shared interest in promoting “a fully free movement of services in the EU.” He added that both countries had a “competitive edge" in the service sector.
Meanwhile, Romania’s Ciucă said that the intergovernmental talks "underscored excellent bilateral relations” between Poland and Romania, “based on the strategic partnership" signed by the two countries in 2009.
He added that, besides bilateral ties, the discussions focused on "ways to tackle the energy crisis” and continued support for Ukraine and Moldova.
Tuesday is day 398 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, wgospodarce.pl
Click on the audio player above to listen to a report by Radio Poland's Michał Owczarek.