On the occasion of the 129th session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Helsinki, Minister Jacek Czaputowicz met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. It was the first meeting of Polish and Russian foreign ministers in five years.

“Shared values are the cornerstone of the Council of Europe, and its 70th anniversary is an opportunity to renew the commitments made by member States to the principles of democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law across Europe,” said the chief of Polish diplomacy during the 129th session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

On 18-19 May, the chief of Polish diplomacy will visit the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

“We want to develop bilateral dialogue to openly discuss our problems and look for the best solutions together,” said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Marcin Przydacz, who visited Belarus on 15-17 May.

Reinforcing the Council of Europe in the face of current challenges and finding ways to overcome the ongoing political, institutional and financial crisis will be the main topics discussed during the next session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Helsinki.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses concern at the physical and verbal attack on Polish Ambassador to Israel Marek Magierowski, which took place on Tuesday, 14 May, in front of the Polish diplomatic mission in Tel Aviv. Any such acts directed against diplomatic agents deserve unequivocal condemnation.

On the first day of his Brussels visit, the chief of Polish diplomacy took part in a Foreign Affairs Council meeting and a meeting of EU and Eastern Partnership (EaP) foreign ministers to mark the programme’s 10th anniversary.

“We can say that the Eastern Partnership is a successful programme. We are now at a moment when we should chart a direction for the future and define what the programme should be like for the next ten years to come,” Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said at a conference convened to discuss the Eastern Partnership’s (EP) achievements and challenges.

Prospects for EU enlargement to bring in Western Balkan countries, regional cooperation, security, and building democratic institutions in the region are the major topics of a meeting of think-tanks in Skopje.