The deputy head of Polish diplomacy held a videoconference with his Turkish counterpart, Sedat Önal. The meeting focused on the most important aspects of eastern policy, security issues and bilateral cooperation.

Poland welcomes the agreement concluded between the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates) and Egypt on the full normalization of relations during the Council summit in the Saudi city of Al-Ula on January 5th. We similarly welcome Saudi Arabia's decision of January 4th on the reopening of borders with Qatar.

- Today we are once again fulfilling our international and human obligation—we are sharing what we can with a country in crisis caused by the war with ISIS and the current Covid-19 pandemic. We are sending in-kind assistance to Iraq to support the medical services there in providing the necessary help to its people - emphasised Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Paweł Jabłoński speaking about the material aid dispatched to Iraq today.

Today, Deputy Minister Piotr Wawrzyk chaired a meeting of the MFA Crisis Management Team which convened to discuss the ministry’s actions in the context of Brexit. The participants assessed the state of preparations of Polish diplomatic missions in London, Manchester, Paris, and The Hague, as well as the MFA’s Department of Consular Affairs.

Poland strongly condemns all acts of violence and attacks on civilian infrastructure that pose a threat to the safety and freedom of navigation, including incidents such as damages caused to a civilian ship by a mine explosion in the Red Sea on December 25, attacks on the Jeddah port in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on December 14 as well as on the Saudi Aramco facilities in 2019 and 2020. We constantly call for continued efforts to stop the escalation of tensions that have a negative impact on the security situation in the region.

On 22 December 2020, at the request of the Historical Diplomacy Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau awarded prizes and honourable mentions in the fourth edition of the history competition.

The new multiannual programme for 2021-2030 was the key point on the agenda of today's 19th Development Cooperation Programme Board session chaired by the Deputy Foreign Minister and National Coordinator for Development Cooperation Paweł Jabłoński. The session was held remotely.

- Poland is sending a humanitarian aid transport to Sudan. This is yet another solidarity measure initiated this year by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a country which has found itself in dire need - said Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński announcing the donation of material aid for Sudan.

"European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean are natural allies in the defence of multilateralism. We share the same vision when it comes to shaping global issues", said minister Zbigniew Rau in his address during the ministerial meeting of the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean, which was held via video conference.

“The State of Qatar is one of Poland’s closest and trusted partners in the Middle East. Our positive experience related to the LNG import from Qatar should soon pay off in the form of fruitful trade and investment cooperation, as well as in other fields of economy and business,” said Deputy Minister Paweł Jabłoński following a meeting with his Qatari counterpart Ahmad Hassan Al-Hamadi.