The Monday talks between the chief of Polish diplomacy and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy served to present Poland’s viewpoint on the most important issues related to the EU external policy, particularly transatlantic ties and the EU Eastern Partnership.

On 14 January, a videoconference was held under the Polish presidency of the Visegrad Group (V4), which gathered deputy foreign ministers of Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Great Britain.

The Thursday talks were intended to highlight the importance of Poland’s relations with that part of the world and present the priorities of Poland’s foreign policy. The participants exchanged their views on the key events and trends in international politics, as well as on the recent developments in the region.

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.