Minister Radosław Sikorski met with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. They discussed the current state of EU-Ukraine relations as well as key bilateral issues.

During a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko, Minister Sikorski said that Poland is a country “which did the most to support Ukraine in the EU.” He repeated that Poland “wants to help Ukraine whenever Ukraine helps itself.”

Minister Sikorski also declared that “in the run-up to UEFA EURO 2012, our consuls will work double shifts” in order to help Ukrainians visit Poland during the tournament. Poland plans to open one more consulate in Ukraine – in Donetsk.

The 4th Senior Officials’ Meeting of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Poland and Ukraine focused on bilateral political and economic relations. Participants exchanged their views on the international situation and the challenges facing security policy. The agenda of the meeting included also a review of the implementation of the Road Map on Polish-Ukrainian Co-operation for 2011-2012.

During his visit to Kiev Minister Sikorski also spoke to representatives of the opposition, including Yevhenia Tymoshenko, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Hryhoriy Nemyria and Borys Tarasyuk. They discussed the domestic situation in Ukraine as well as bilateral issues and EU-Ukraine relations.

After the meeting Minister Sikorski told journalists that “he wanted to obtain first-hand information on the health of the imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko” (her daughter had visited her a day before). He emphasized that Poland wants to help Ukraine in rebuilding EU trust towards the country, with “fully democratic parliamentary elections in the autumn ” serving as an occasion to do so.

Marcin Bosacki
Press Spokesman

Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak