Support for Ukraine, EU, NATO projects among Poland’s priorities in 2023: gov’t

The spokesman for the Polish foreign ministry has said that in 2023 Poland will continue to support Ukraine, work with fellow European Union and NATO countries, and step up cooperation with Asian states.

Polish foreign ministry spokesman Łukasz Jasina.

Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak

Łukasz Jasina made the announcement in an interview with Polish state news agency PAP on Wednesday. 

He said that 2022, due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Poland’s 12-month presidency of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was “probably the most difficult year for Polish diplomacy since 1989.”

Jasina added: "Thanks to the work of our diplomats, led by Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, we have managed to provide very effective support to Ukraine as it battles the Russian invasion.”

He told the PAP news agency: “We have managed to draw attention to all the issues related to this aggression on the international stage. In the process, we have also worked hard to enhance Poland's security, supporting the activities of President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.”  

The 🇵🇱 Chairmanship convened a special meeting of the @OSCE Permanent Council to discuss the 🇷🇺 aggression against 🇺🇦.

Mykola Lukashuk, Head of the Regional Council of the Dnipropetrovsk Region described the situation in his region suffering from heinous Russian attacks. pic.twitter.com/P9oFkIHSPO

— Polish OSCE Chairmanship 2022 (@PLinOSCE) December 22, 2022

According to Jasina, Poland’s chairmanship of the OSCE “was a great success.”

Concluding the last regular meeting of the @OSCE Permanent Council under the Polish Chairmanship, Amb. @AdamHalacinski 🇵🇱 handed over the Chairmanship's insignia to Amb. @djundev 🇲🇰.

We wish every success to North Macedonia as the 2023 @OSCE Chair!#OSCE2022POL pic.twitter.com/C4dprSuVNT

— Polish OSCE Chairmanship 2022 (@PLinOSCE) December 16, 2022

He also said that Polish diplomats "very clearly rebuilt bilateral relations with the United States" this year and developed relations "with African and Asian countries.”

Plans for 2023

Jasina told PAP that that Poland’s diplomats were “entering 2023 with optimism.”

He added: “Unfortunately the war in Ukraine continues, but Poland is playing an active role in international organisations. We have the Visegrad Group, which is recovering from the events of this year, we have the Three Seas Initiative, as well as our relations with the Baltic states and Romania, which form a very important part of this security.” 

EU, NATO, US, Bucharest Nine, Asia 

The highlights of 2023 for Polish diplomacy will be “a continuation of cooperation inside the EU and NATO, a meeting of Bucharest Nine defence ministers in Warsaw in early March, Minister Rau’s trip to Asia in late winter or early spring, and his visit to the US in March, at a time when the United Nations General Assembly could be adopting a resolution on the Three Seas Initiative,” Jasina said.     

Referring to Rau’s planned trip to Asia, Jasina told PAP: “The past year has shown that relations with South Korea and Japan are very important, and so a deputy foreign minister will travel to Asia many times, while Minister Rau will also be making several trips in this direction."

Wednesday is day 308 of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

(pm/gs)

Source: PAP, wnp.pl