WARSAW, 10 October (BelTA-TASS) – Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei and his Polish counterpart Witold Waszczykowski have discussed a wide range of issues of bilateral relations and agreed to develop cooperation in a meeting on 10 October.
There have been ‘rapprochement and openness' in the relations between the two countries over the past year, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Witold Waszczykowski told a press conference. He pointed out that this year, the two countries celebrate the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration on Good-Neighborliness, Mutual Recognition and Cooperation between the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Poland.
“There have been ups and downs in our relations over the past 25 years,” Witold Waszczykowski stressed and noted that the current visit of Vladimir Makei to Poland is a small, yet important step in clarifying the issues of the shared history of Belarus and Poland. “Vladimir Makei has brought important documents from the archives with records about Polish people. The data has been transferred to relevant agencies,” Witold Waszczykowski emphasized and pointed out that this data will become available to the public soon.
Besides, the ministers discussed further development of the bilateral economic cooperation, the situation in the region, and the current processes in NATO, the results of the NATO summit in Warsaw, the situation in the European Union and the problems it is faced with. The Belarus-Poland local border traffic was also considered during the meeting. Witold Waszczykowski noted that Poland is ready for the coming into effect of the agreement that enables people living in near-border regions to cross the border visa-free. “However, some border crossings need upgrading,” the minister stressed.
“Today we have had a frank and open conversation. We did not avoid discussing any problems in our relations, and we hope to solve them,” Vladimir Makei said.
The minister added that his Polish counterpart and he summed up the results of the first three quarters of 2016 that can be considered to be beneficial for the Polish-Belarusian contacts in all fields. “We would like to preserve this positive trends and outline the range of issues that we will be working on next year,” Vladimir Makei said emphasizing that Belarus and Poland have approached a new quality of relations free of mistrust and ideological issues.
