Andrzej Duda made the declaration after hosting his Montenegrin counterpart Milo Đukanović in Warsaw on Thursday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Duda and Đukanović held two-hour talks that focused on international politics, further assistance to war-torn Ukraine and Poland's support for Montenegro’s efforts to join the EU, officials said.
At a joint news conference with Đukanović afterwards, Duda said he had briefed his guest on the latest developments in Ukraine and asked about the situation in the Balkans.
Support for Ukraine
The Polish president said he and Đukanović had agreed that “further military assistance to Ukraine is of key importance if Ukraine is to regain control over its borders.”
This, in turn, “is of fundamental significance for the restoration of order and the primacy of European law,” Duda added.
He stressed: “The free world, the democratic world, our countries, as members of the Euro-Atlantic community, absolutely must support Ukraine in this regard.”
Poland backs Montenegro’s EU bid, offers Three Seas partnership
The Polish president told reporters that “Poland staunchly supports Montenegro’s aspirations to become a member of the EU.”
He added: “We are in favour of an open-door policy."
Duda also said he would lobby Poland’s allies in the Three Seas Initiative to grant Montenegro official partner status in the regional club.
In June, at a Three Seas summit in Riga, Latvia, Ukraine was declared an official partner of the Three Seas Initiative, the PAP news agency reported.
Official partner status is a new kind of partnership designed especially for countries that aspire to join the EU, reporters were told.
“I would like us to expand the Three Seas Initiative as much as possible,” Duda declared on Thursday.
Three Seas Initiative
The Three Seas Initiative brings together 12 EU member states 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 the Croatian president at the time, Kolinda Grabar–Kitarović.
Military and energy security
Duda and Đukanović also discussed military and energy security, according to officials.
“We support Montenegro's efforts to create a system of national security and defence against external influences, especially ones that seek to destabilise the situation in Montenegro,” the Polish president stated, as quoted by the PAP news agency.
Thursday was day 246 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, prezydent.pl