While in Antalya, Turkey, Minister Zbigniew Rau met with his Turkish, Ukrainian, Romanian, and Iranian counterparts on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum. The main point on the agenda was the Biden-Putin summit, its results and implications.

“Poland supports European integration of the Western Balkans. We are strongly in favour of launching accession negotiations with both Albania and North Macedonia as soon as possible,” said Deputy Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk.

On Friday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau took part in a panel titled “A New Era in Transatlantic Relations” at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF) – the first big international conference organised after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is an important forum with a potential to become a top regional event and a platform for discussing key global issues.

Events in Belarus, prospects for democratic change there, and Russian influence were the main topics of discussions on Friday. The second panel also dealt with foreign support for democratic opposition, expected assistance measures from the EU and US, and the impact of the events in Minsk on transatlantic security.

On 16 June 2021, the annual GLOBSEC conference in Bratislava hosted a panel of Visegrad Group foreign ministers, a regular feature of the event’s agenda. Discussions covered the future of the European Union in view of challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, Zbigniew Rau and US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken had a phone conversation today. The discussion was held at the request of the American side.

On Wednesday, the capital of Slovakia will host a GLOBSEC strategic conference. Poland will be represented by Minister Zbigniew Rau.

Cooperation between the EU and middle-income countries as well as promoting human development, in particular education and health care, were the main topics of today’s informal video conference of EU development cooperation ministers.

The Polish foreign minister’s meeting with President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Odile Renaud-Basso was an opportunity to discuss the political directions and strategic areas relevant to Poland’s cooperation with the Bank.

Economic cooperation, bilateral political relations, Serbia’s European integration and regional cooperation were the key items discussed during today’s talks of the heads of Polish and Serbian diplomacies. The Warsaw visit of Serbia’s Foreign Minister Nikola Selaković was also an opportunity to sign the Memorandum of Understanding between the two foreign ministries on the strengthening of cooperation in bilateral relations and a cooperation programme in the field of culture, education and science for the years 2021-2024.