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“Obstacles on Polish-Ukrainian border and lack of appropriate logistic base are making cooperation between both states difficult” – noticed Secretary of State Jerzy Kwieciński at the Ministry of Economic Development of the Republic of Poland during the “Industrial Defence & Energy Summit. Europe meets Ukraine 2017” (IDES17). IDES17 was the official event accompanying the “Polish-Ukrainian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation”, which was organised under patronage of deputy prime ministers Mateusz Morawiecki and Stepan Kubiw.

Polish-Ukrainian relations are quickly evolving, but there is still a lot to be done. Such conclusion may be drawn from the Summit dedicated to economic cooperation between Poland and Ukraine. The representative of the Ministry of Economic Development, Jerzy Kwieciński, stressed the importance of Poland in developing those relations. “We are the advocates of Ukraine in European institutions” – declared the minister. His Ukrainian counterpart, Mikhail Titarchuk, also noticed that “Poland is a key partner for us. Ukraine is opening for new possibilities, also in terms of military cooperation with Poland”.

Economic cooperation is impeded by barriers like border traffic and visa regime. Borys Tarasiuk former minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine, who was stopped on his way to the Summit at passport control despite carrying diplomatic documents, addressed the problem.

The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, undersecretary of state for security, eastern and European policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, Marek Ziółkowski, stressed that Polish-Ukrainian relations are rich and multifaceted, but lacks holistic and consistent policies towards Ukraine. “There is no awareness in Poland that there was a change of system in Ukraine” – remarked Ziółkowski, encouraging to take greater interest in Ukraine.

History as fodder for information warfare

During the Summit a lot of attention was given also to Ukrainian-Russian relations. A member of the political cabinet of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, professor Przemysław Żurawski vel Grajewski underlined that Russia is actively trying to influence Polish-Ukrainian relations by so-called borderland environment, and such gestures like one-sided resolution  of Polish Parliament calling the Wołyń incidents from the 40 of XX century genocide are just fodder for Russian propaganda. In the context of the attack on Polish consulate in Łuck, Żurawski vel Grajewski claimed that we can expect more provocations from Russia, which also uses the element of disinformation to create an unfavorable climate between Poland and Ukraine.

The Russian-Ukrainian relations were also mentioned by Tarasiuk who stressed that Ukraine and Russia cannot be equally blamed of transgression of the Mińsk II agreement, because Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine uses its right to self-defence. “War in Ukraine is a conflict between civilizations and values” – stated Tarasiuk. “Measures used towards Russia, including sanctions are good, but without delivering weapons and ammunition Ukraine won’t get the advantage,” added longtime leader of Ukrainian diplomacy.

“Memorandum of Cooperation” in aerospace technology

During the Summit a “Memorandum of Cooperation” was signed between Ukrainian and Polish companies on development and production of new aerospace technologies. One of the sides of the agreement is a company engaged in building the third biggest in the world radio telescope (RT90+) which will be manufactured in Bory Tucholskie.

IDES17 was the official event accompanying the “Polish-Ukrainian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation”, which was organised under patronage of deputy prime ministers Mateusz Morawiecki and Stepan Kubiw. “Industrial Defense & Energy summit. Europe meets Ukraine 2017” was taken under honorary patronage of the Ministry of Development of the Republic of Poland, the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Poland and the National Security Bureau of the Republic of Poland. NATO and Industry Development Agency are the partners of the Summit.

The conference was attended by high-rank representatives of governmental administration, from Ukraine as well as Poland, experts and representatives of industry. Conference speakers included amongst others: vice minister of economy of Ukraine Mikhail Titarchuk, secretary of state at the Ministry of Development of the Republic of Poland Jerzy Kwieciński, undersecretary of state for security, eastern and European policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland Marek Ziółkowski, minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine (1998-2000, 2005-2007) Borys Tarasiuk, CEO of Polish-Ukrainian chamber of economy Jacek Piechota, vice-president of PGNiG Łukasz Kroplewski, or Assistant Manager of Development, Ukroboromprom Artur Kheruvymov. “Industrial Defense & Energy Summit. Europe meets Ukraine 2017” was organised by the Casimir Pulaski Foundation with Kochański Zięba and Partners law firm.

Photogallery can by found here.

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