During the meeting, the ministers talked about implications of and ways to respond to an unprecedented security crisis in Europe caused by Russia’s attack on Ukraine, including further political, military, and economic support for Kyiv. An important item on the agenda was the cooperation of the three countries under the North Atlantic Alliance, particularly in the context of its enlargement process including Sweden and Finland, and the preparations for the NATO summit in June, including work on the new Strategic Concept. The officials also discussed the potential to further strengthen cooperation under the Trilogue and its prospective expansion pointing out that this format proved useful over the past ten years of its operation (2012-2022). The ministers underlined the very good political and military cooperation between the three countries. “Our countries are the pillars of NATO’s eastern flank, on the Alliance’s first line, and experiencing direct threat to their security posed by Russia’s aggressive policy,” said the minister.

The top diplomats of the three countries paid much attention to the security situation in the region. “I welcome our joint search of possibilities to effectively respond to the difficult security situation in our neighbourhood, particularly in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine and its implications for Georgia and Moldova. We jointly speak for sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,l Moldova, and Georgia, and we continue our support for those countries’ Euro-Atlantic aspirations,” declared Minister Zbigniew Rau.

The ministers also referred to the process of NATO’s strategic adaptation in preparation for the NATO summit in Madrid. “I am pleased to note the agreement of our three countries regarding the need to further strengthen NATO’s eastern flank, including transition from the current formula of forward presence to permanent forward defence, and the related substantial increase of military presence,” underlined Minister Rau.

The ministers were received by the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The meeting was an opportunity to discuss current security challenges in the context of the oncoming NATO summit. The agenda of Minister Rau’s visit also included bilateral Polish-Turkish and Polish-Romanian consultations.

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Meetings of so-called Trilogue of Poland, Romania, and Turkey have been held regularly since 2012 (since 2016 at the level of foreign ministers). Their purpose is to strengthen cooperation between allies who represent the largest countries of NATO’s eastern flank, and to work out a joint position on key issues regarding regional security. The previous meeting was held in Bucharest in April 2021. The ministers announced that next consultations in this format will take place in Warsaw next year.

 

Łukasz Jasina
MFA Press Spokesperson

 

Photo: Sebastian Indra/ MFA