Ukraine and Poland are working together to increase arms for our country
Trade, infrastructure projects and reconstruction, energy and European integration were the main topics of the Ukrainian-Polish intergovernmental consultations chaired by the prime ministers of both countries, which took place in Warsaw on 28 March.
“Ukraine and Poland are strategic allies. We are very grateful for the support to our country in times of full-scale russian aggression,” said Denys Shmyhal, adding that the agenda of relations between the two countries included a number of tasks and challenges that needed to be addressed. In particular, there is the issue of arms for Ukraine.
“We need more weapons and we are working together on this. This includes, in particular, the establishment of joint defence enterprises in Ukraine and Poland,” the Head of Ukrainian Government stressed.
According to the Prime Minister of Ukraine, the issue of further trade liberalisation is also important: "This is something that concerns the ability of Ukrainian producers to continue supplying their products to the EU without duties and tariffs.”
During the meeting, the parties discussed the development of infrastructure and the reconstruction of Ukraine. Ukraine presented its proposals for the construction of the Krakovets-Lviv-Brody-Rivne motorway, which is also of interest to Polish companies. In addition, the Ukrainian side hopes for Poland’s participation in the reconstruction of Ukraine. Denys Shmyhal thanked the Polish partners for their initiative to contribute to the restoration of Kharkiv region, which has suffered greatly from massive russian terror.
Energy issues were also discussed during the Ukrainian-Polish consultations.
“Ukraine has recently experienced unprecedented russian attacks on its energy infrastructure. Poland is helping us to stabilise the energy system by importing electricity to Ukraine,” said Denys Shmyhal. According to him, a good example of deepening the integration of the Ukrainian energy system with the European one is the construction of the Khmelnytskyi NPP-Rzeszów power line. Ukraine is also interested in building new cross-border lines and interconnectors.
Denys Shmyhal also stressed that Poland supported Ukraine’s European integration aspirations: “Poland will work with us to ensure that the first EU-Ukraine intergovernmental conference on negotiations for our accession to the European Union takes place in the first half of this year.”
The government-to-government dialogue culminated in the signing by Prime Ministers Denys Shmyhal and Donald Tusk of a Joint Statement on current bilateral relations and future plans.