Poland helps Western Balkans fight coronavirus
26.05.2020
“Our help for the Western Balkans confirms the importance that we attach to our relations with the region, a region without which it would be difficult to consider the process of uniting Europe as complete,” Deputy Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk said at a ceremony to launch a humanitarian convoy to six Western Balkan states – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia – which took place in Warsaw on 26 May. “’Solidarity’ is the key word to describe the entire development policy underlying the MFA’s humanitarian assistance programmes. For forty years, this word has been a value that Poland is associated with,” Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński said during the meeting. He added: “Poland does not forget about its neighbours and about other states that are in need of help.”
On Tuesday, a transport carrying aid for the six Western Balkan states left Warsaw. The cargo included more than 60,000 litres of liquid for disinfecting surfaces and hands and 600,000 surgical masks (altogether nearly 70 tonnes of goods). Polish humanitarian aid will be provided to hospitals and the most vulnerable persons across the region through Solidarity Fund PL. The National Headquarters of the State Fire Service is tasked with transporting the items.
The Fire Service convoy consists of seven vehicles (including five lorries, a truck with a semi-trailer, and the commanding officer’s car for operational purposes). The cargo has been divided into six vehicles, each carrying goods for one recipient state.
A short ceremony to mark the convoy’s departure brought together the ambassadors of recipient states and representatives of institutions involved in the organization of the convoy, among them Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Climate Adam Guibourgé-Czetwertyński. “The time of the epidemic is an unprecedented and difficult situation for everyone. We had to take exceptional measures and act in an emergency mode. It has also shown that the Material Reserves Agency is well prepared to face emergency situations and that it is efficient in ensuring the continuity of supply of protective equipment to places which need them the most,” noted Deputy Minister Adam Guibourgé-Czetwertyński.
Poland has been actively supporting Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia on their path to European integration by sharing its experiences of accession negotiations with the EU through both bilateral and multilateral formats. One example is the “Enlargement Academy” for civil servants from the Western Balkans launched in 2015. Since 2017, the Polish MFA in cooperation with the Krzyżowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe and the German embassy in Warsaw, as well as with the participation of the European Commission’s Regional Representation in Wroclaw, has also been organising an annual seminar for youth from the Western Balkans, Poland and Germany titled “Memory, Understanding, Future.”
Last year, Poland held the presidency of the Berlin Process, an initiative supporting the integration of the Western Balkans with the European Union. As part of the presidency, which culminated in the Western Balkans Summit in Poznan in July 2019, over 100 events were held in Poland and in the Western Balkans. Poland also donated over EUR 1.5 million for the region’s infrastructural development. What is more, Poland expressed its solidarity with the region’s countries by pledging EUR 2.7 million to help rebuild Albania following a tragic earthquake which struck the country last year.
Relations with the Western Balkans will be an important part of Poland’s Visegrad Group presidency, which starts on 1 July 2020.
MFA Press Office
Photo: Tymon Markowski / MSZ
