Ukraine war shows importance of energy cooperation: Polish president

Poland’s president has said that Russia's war on Ukraine has highlighted the importance of energy cooperation as part of the Three Seas Initiative group of European Union countries.

Polish President Andrzej Duda (centre), Bulgaria's Rumen Radev (left), Latvia's Egils Levits (second from left), Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier (second from right), and Estonia's Alar Karis (right) take part in the Three Seas Initiative Summit and Business Forum in Riga, Latvia, on Monday, June 20, 2022.

PAP/EPA/Toms Kalnins

Andrzej Duda made the statement during a summit of the Three Seas Initiative group in Riga, Latvia, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

Speaking at the summit's business forum on Monday, the Polish president said that the Three Seas club was created in 2015, after Croatia’s head of state at the time, Kolinda Grabar–Kitarović, proposed cooperation with Poland on gas supplies.

This initial idea evolved into a club of 12 Central European countries that work together on road, railway and energy infrastructure, Duda said. 

“The current situation in the region and the Russian aggression against Ukraine show the importance of cooperation between the Three Seas countries in terms of energy infrastructure,” the president added. 

He noted that Russia in April halted its gas supplies to Poland over Warsaw’s refusal to pay for the resource in roubles.

“But by then we had interconnections with Lithuania and Germany, the gas link with Slovakia is almost ready, and they give us gas security,” Duda told the forum.

– Wywołana przez Rosję wojna na Ukrainie pokazuje, jak ważna jest współpraca Inicjatywy Trójmorza w obszarze infrastruktury energetycznej – Prezydent @AndrzejDuda podczas Forum Biznesowego @3seaseu.

📍 https://t.co/wBCFG1wJfV pic.twitter.com/lhmvGt9jNd

— Biuro Polityki Międzynarodowej (@BPM_KPRP) June 20, 2022

Riga summit    

The two-day Riga summit, hosted by Latvian President Egils Levits, features leaders from the 12 Three Seas countries, as well as representatives for the initiative’s partners: the United States, Japan, Germany and the European Commission. 

During Monday's proceedings, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the gathering via video link from Kyiv.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also made a video speech to the summit.

Meanwhile, it was decided that the next Three Seas summit would take place in Romania in 2023.

Three Seas Initiative

The Three Seas Initiative brings together EU countries between the Baltic, Black, and Adriatic Seas: Poland, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary.

It seeks to deepen political, economic, energy and infrastructure ties between its members.

The initiative was launched in 2015 by Poland's Duda and Croatia’s Grabar-Kitarović.

Monday was day 117 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

(pm/gs)

Source: PAP, tvpparlament.pl