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Russia’s new ambassador to Poland vows to improve ties with Warsaw

08 September 2010 04:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Russia’s new ambassador to Poland has submitted his credential to Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, pledging to step up cooperation between the countries, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.
"It is absolutely obvious that there are opportunities to activate our bilateral relations. For me as an ambassador, it is crucially important that these opportunities are used to the full," Alexander Alexeyev told RIA Novosti.
He described Tuesday’s meeting with the Polish president as "very festive and decent," adding that the Polish side had also expressed readiness to actively develop cooperation with Russia.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appointed Alexeyev as ambassador to Poland on June 21. His predecessor Vladimir Grinin will now serve as ambassador to Germany.
Alexeyev has been Russia’s ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro in 2004-2008.
Some experts say that Russian-Polish relations, which deteriorated during Lech Kaczynski’s presidency over a range of historical disputes, are likely to improve under Komorowski.
Following Komorowski’s victory in early elections called after Kaczynski’s death in a plane crash in western Russia, Medvedev pledged to continue "regular dialogue to expand all-embracing cooperation between Russia and Poland."
Alexeyev said the committee for the strategy of Russian-Polish cooperation would hold a meeting in October in order to conclude the work on a new gas agreement between the countries.
Under the deal being negotiated by the sides, two state monopolies, Russia’s Gazprom and Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA, or PGNiG, will finish upgrading EuRoPol Gaz, the operator and owner of the Polish part of the Yamal-Europe pipeline which carries gas from Russia’s Yamal peninsula to Europe, and will each get a 50 percent stake in it.
Gazprom and PGNiG now hold 48 percent each in EuRoPol Gaz, with the remaining four percent belong to Gas-Trading S.A., in which more than 80 percent of shares belong to Polish companies.
The Polish side, which has slightly more votes in EuRoPol Gaz, wanted to increase the transit price, which Gazprom opposed. The companies hope that the new agreement will put an end to the dispute.