Held this year from 20 to 24 June, the Conference of Ambassadors is a regular annual meeting of Polish diplomats. In 2022, it brought together over 100 participants – ambassadors, chargés d’affaires, and permanent representatives of the Republic of Poland to international organisations. A guest of honour at this year’s conference was Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs, who accepted an invitation from Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau to share with Polish ambassadors the Latvian perspective on key aspects of the international situation, with particular emphasis on the war in Ukraine. The conference participants paid visits to President Andrzej Duda, Speaker of the Sejm Elżbieta Witek, Speaker of the Senate Tomasz Grodzki, and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The talks focused on issues such as the role of Polish diplomacy, the priorities of Poland’s foreign policy, and current challenges resulting from the present international situation.

When opening the Conference of Ambassadors 2022, Minister Zbigniew Rau stressed in his speech that Poland’s absolute priority is an independent and fully sovereign Ukraine whose society makes its own political, social, and economic choices. “In their mutual relations, states should refrain from threats to use force or from using force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country,” said Minister Rau. The head of Polish diplomacy recalled that during the last months of peace before Russia’s attack against Ukraine, “we warned against the war, condemned it as a means to a political end, and sought to mobilise the world’s general and political public to discourage Russia from an aggression.” Foreign Minister Rau noted that Poland reinforced its credibility after full-scale hostilities had begun. Poland and Poles provided Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees with help of an unprecedented scale and character. At the same time, Poland formed a coalition of those willing to provide Ukraine with more arms, and grant it EU candidate status.

The ambassadors’ meeting with Prime Minister Morawiecki highlighted the importance of efforts to create public awareness and maintain European solidarity. The meeting with Speaker of the Sejm focused on various aspects of parliamentary diplomacy, including migration issues and support for Ukrainian refugees.

A series of plenary talks centred around such items on the political agenda as security, the European Union, information policy, economic, humanitarian and development cooperation, consular challenges, and diplomacy aimed at communicating with foreign publics and Polish communities abroad. Moreover, the sessions also covered further development and professionalisation of the Polish foreign service. The participants shared experiences of their operations in individual countries and international organisations, and discussed issues of primary importance for the Polish raison d’état. The panel discussions were attended by representatives of ministries, central offices, the private sector, and non-governmental organisations. During the meetings, the participants presented experiences, examples and opinions that will be crucial for Polish diplomacy in the months to come.

A very important item on the conference agenda was cooperation and synergy between the diplomatic and military dimensions in the pursuit of Poland’s foreign policy goals. This issue was the focus of the address delivered by General Rajmund T. Andrzejczak, the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces.

To underline the significance of Poland’s support for our Ukrainian friends, a concert celebrating Polish-Ukrainian solidarity was held on the penultimate day of the conference. It was hosted by the Royal Castle in Warsaw and featured artists of the Polish Royal Opera. The Head of the Foreign Service opened the event, pointing out in his speech that in this way Polish diplomacy honoured the friendship between our nations. He also stressed that “since 2014, Poland has been taking measures to support all political, military, and development initiatives to strengthen Ukraine” and “after full-scale hostilities broke out in 2022, Poland has worked out a series of systemic solutions to make Ukrainian citizens feel safe and function well in our country”.

 

Łukasz Jasina

MFA Press Spokesperson

 

Photo: Sebastian Indra /MFA