“We can see prospects for intensifying cooperation between the countries of V4 and of Central Asia, which can bring us mutual benefits,” underlined Deputy Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk during consultations with his counterparts from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, as well as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The meeting, held in the form of a videoconference, confirmed the need for regular discussions at the forum of the Visegrad Group and Central Asia on current challenges in regional, international and security policy.

“During the pandemic, when air travel has been particularly badly affected by restrictions on movement, the fact the Republic of Peru has signed and ratified the Montreal Protocol No. 3 reminds us that it will be possible to return to normal transport and functioning in the international environment,” said Deputy Minister Piotr Wawrzyk at the ceremony that was held on Wednesday at the MFA headquarters.

On Wednesday, NATO foreign and defence ministers participated in an emergency videoconference of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) on Afghanistan. Poland was represented by Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau and Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak.

At the initiative of the US side, Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau and US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken held a telephone conversation on the current issues on the transatlantic agenda. The talks covered, among other issues, NATO’s response to the Russian Federation’s actions in Ukraine and parameters of NATO’s presence in Afghanistan.

“Europe will be forged in crises, and will be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises,” was the quote from Jean Monnet that the head of Polish diplomacy used to open his speech during the 6th edition of the international Raisina Dialogue conference. Its theme this year is #ViralWorld: Outbreaks, Outliers and Out of Control.

- The Kingdom of Bahrain is one of Poland’s close partners in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East. We see prospects for closer economic and trade cooperation, particularly in new sectors - said Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński during bilateral political consultations held by video conference today.

The ministers’ talks focused on political relations between our countries in the bilateral dimension and as part of multilateral cooperation. “We share common values, principles and interests, including the promotion of effective multilateralism based on the global order. These are foundations that should help us make full use of the existing huge potential of our relations. Official high-level visits could provide a strong political impetus for our cooperation in many sectors,” said Minister Rau.

“The purpose of my visit was to reaffirm our policy that Ukraine is not alone in defending its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and inviolability of its borders and that Ukraine has every reason to defend itself. An independent, secure Ukraine is an inalienable part of a Europe that remains true to the fundamental principles of the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, whose 30th anniversary we recently celebrated.

- Relations between Poland and Estonia are living proof that working remotely doesn’t mean working any less efficiently. This is demonstrated, for example, by the fact that in the year 2020, so affected by the pandemic, trade between our two countries not only did not shrink but actually grew by four percent, largely because of the digital economy - said Foreign Minister Professor Zbigniew Rau in his opening remarks to today’s Poland-Estonia Virtual Business Forum.

UN Secretary General António Guterres appointed Ambassador Joanna Wronecka, Permanent Representative of Poland to the United Nations in New York, as UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon. Her main tasks will include coordinating UN actions in Lebanon.