Ukraine, Poland express concern over reprisals in Belarus – joint communiqué

According to Ukrinform, this is stated in the joint communiqué adopted following the XXIX meeting of the Advisory Committee of the Presidents of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland, the website of the President of Ukraine informs.

During the meeting, the Advisory Committee members discussed the issues on bilateral agenda, focusing on provisions of the joint statement by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda dated October 12, 2020.

In particular, the parties:

- reaffirmed their readiness for mutual support and exchange of experience, which will help to gain the prospect of Ukraine's membership in the EU and NATO, associated with the consolidation of efforts to continue internal reforms in order to meet Ukraine's requirements and standards of the Euro-transatlantic community;

- stressed the constant respect of Ukraine and Poland for international law, concern for peace and security in Europe, and expressed confidence in the need for further efforts of the international community to restore Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty within internationally recognized borders, including de-occupation of Donbas and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol;

- welcomed Poland's readiness to support the development of cooperation with Ukraine within the framework of regional formats in which Poland participates as a member of the EU and NATO;

- recognized the importance of the newly created Crimean Platform for the de-occupation of the peninsula and the protection of human rights in the temporarily occupied territory; the Polish side reaffirmed its support for this initiative and declared its commitment at the expert level in specific, jointly defined areas of the Platform's activities;

- pointed out the role of the OSCE, in particular, that of the Special Monitoring Mission, in resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and expressed the need to intensify cooperation in preparing the agenda concerning Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine on the eve of Poland’s OSCE chair in 2022;

- confirmed the interest of Ukraine and Poland in the development of cooperation in the implementation of joint energy projects; supported the readiness to jointly oppose the implementation of energy projects that pose a threat to the security of Ukraine and Poland, with special emphasis on stopping the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline;

- stressed the need to build and modernize the relevant transport infrastructure to increase the efficiency of the transport network, as well as increase bilateral trade; in this context, the importance of the construction of the Via Carpatia road corridor, as well as the development of infrastructure on the Ukrainian side, was noted;

- praised the intention to hold, after a long break, a meeting of the Ukraine-Poland Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, expressing hope that the decisions taken during its meeting will be consistently implemented in cooperation with business representatives. There is a need to further strengthen efforts to remove trade barriers and create better investment conditions for the full use of the potential of Ukraine-Poland cooperation;

- praised the agreements on the establishment of a joint working group of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory and the Polish Institute of National Remembrance to resolve problematic issues of commemoration of war victims and political reprisals to put burial sites in Ukraine and Poland in order;

- stressed the importance of protecting the rights of national minorities in Poland and Ukraine, as well as the readiness of both parties to quickly negotiate a draft agreement between the governments on the schools of the Ukrainian minority in Poland and of the Polish minority in Ukraine;

- stressed the importance of continuing the professional dialogue on the history, which would be based on joint research of archival materials and would allow assessing impartially the past events to strengthen the atmosphere of friendship and good neighborliness between Ukrainian and Polish peoples, and stressed the need to refrain from actions that contradict the spirit of reconciliation and good neighborliness;

- expressed deep concern over the intensification of reprisals by the Belarusian authorities against civil society leaders, including representatives of organizations of the Polish national minority in Belarus;

The parties also agreed on a schedule of contacts between Ukraine and the Republic of Poland at the highest level for 2021.

As reported, the XXIX meeting of the Advisory Committee of the Presidents of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland was held with the participation of Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva and Secretary of State of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland Krzysztof Szczerski in the format of a video conference on March 29.

Photo credit: President’s Office

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