Foreign

Home page

Foreign

Ambassador Mihal Labenda: â€œEastern policy is priority for all dominating political forces of Poland. And Azerbaijan is a main partner in this frameâ€ - INTERVIEW

22 November 2010 10:17 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Lachin Sultanova â€“ APA. Polish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mihal Labenda gives interview to APA.

- Please, at first, speak about yourself and your diplomatic career.

- I was born in 1974. I graduated from the School of Oriental Studies (Arab literature) of the Kazakhstan National State University. I am a doctor of humanitarian sciences. I has been in diplomatic service since 1999 and passed all steps of the diplomatic career. I was working at the Asia and Pacific and East Europe departments of the Polish Foreign Ministry, at the Polish embassies in Uzbekistan and USA. Married and have a son.

- Did you have information about Azerbaijan before your appointment and how did you accept this appointment?

- I consider it an honor to be appointed to Azerbaijan, I am proud of that. Azerbaijan is not a strange country for me. I visited the country many times while working at the East Europe department of the Foreign Ministry. The work with the Caucasian and Central Asian countries was in my competence. I accompanied the Polish officials, including President Lech Kaczynski, Prime Minister Donald Tusk during their visits to Azerbaijan and I know the problems of your country.

- There was a change of power in Poland. Did it have an impact on relationship with Azerbaijan?

- Poland is a parliamentary republic. According to the Constitution, the President is a supreme representative of the Republic of Poland, symbol of the Polish statehood, but he has quite restricted authority in daily political affairs. The President coordinates the foreign policy with the government. It means that the President fulfills duties determined by the government. The Polish Government has not changed in this regard. Death of President Lech KaczyÅ„ski, his spouse, high-ranking representatives of the parliament, government and the army has not impacted on the state activity. Extraordinary presidential elections were held and Bronislav Komorovsky was elected president. As the government did not change, the foreign policy course did not change as well. In this regard, forthcoming parliamentary elections to be held in the end of next year will be decisive for us. These elections will be great call for Poland, because that time we will chair the EU. We may expect that government and policy will change in Poland as a result of the elections. But if there occur changes in political scene of Poland, our attitude toward Azerbaijan will not change. Eastern policy is priority for all dominating political forces of Poland. And Azerbaijan is a main partner in this frame.

- As one of initiators of the â€œEastern Partnershipâ€ program, is Poland satisfied with the progress of this program?

- Poland will take the EU presidency in the second half of next year. One of our priorities will be the Eastern policy, including the Eastern Partnership Program and strengthening of relationship with six participant countries. Belarus and Ukraine are neighbor countries with us, but we have no joint borders with Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Moldova. All of these countries are important for us. We support their pro-European political course and they are our friends. Therefore we would like to develop these relations in the future. EU allocated 600 million Euro for this goal and only five percent of these resources were spent so far. We hope the situation will be changed in near future. There is no country which has more or less importance for us. The Eastern Europe initiative was forwarded by Sweden and Poland, but is supported by the European Commission and EU.

- Does Poland show an interest to AGRI project attended by Georgia and Romania?

- Poland is not directly involved in Nabucco and AGRI projects, but it is interested in diversification of energy routes to the European markets. It guarantees energy security of the countries and creates more useful commercial conditions. EU is now working on the system uniting energy infrastructure of member countries. This system will transport energy resources from one member country to other during the crisis. Currently, such interim pipeline has been created between Slovakia and Austria and it will be created between Poland and Czech Republic in the near future. Such events serve maintaining of the European security.

- At what stage is the implementation of â€œSarmatiya-2â€ projectâ€?

- â€œSarmatiyaâ€ is continuing works on the last area joining pipeline systems of Poland and Ukraine. The EU has allocated a budget for these works. Participation of â€œEastern partnershipâ€ member states â€“ Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Georgia, in the Eurasian oil transportation system is very important for us. We hope that this project will be realized in the near future after a long preparation process and Azerbaijani oil will be put up to sale in the European market.

- How about the overall volume of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Poland?

- According to information of the Central Statistical Office of Poland, volume of trade turnover was $51,6 mln between January and June of this year. Poland has exported $45,2 mln-goods to Azerbaijan and imported $6,5mln-goods. And it means 197,2% increase. Main goods exported to Azerbaijan are â€“ TV sets, bulldozer and etc. Azerbaijan mainly exports propylene, uncultivated, cultivated and conserved nuts to Poland.

-Is it planned to hold the next national exhibition of Poland in Baku? What spheres of Azerbaijanâ€™s economy are the Polish businessmen interested in?

-First of all, I want to note that Poland-Azerbaijan relations are not only on the official level, there are perfect relations between the business representatives. Poland-Azerbaijan intergovernmental commission is doing much, the commission has created good conditions for the development of economic relations between our countries. This activity is reflected in the foreign trade indicators. I would like to mention the opportunities offered by the Polish market for Azerbaijani goods. I hope relevant measures will be taken for Azerbaijani business in Poland in response to the national exhibitions and economic-commercial missions of Poland in Azerbaijan.

-Are new projects expected in the field of humanitarian cooperation? Have you seen the buildings constructed by Polish architects in Baku?

-I have familiarized myself with the map showing the buildings constructed by Polish architects in Baku, I have seen the major buildings â€“ mayorâ€™s office, History Museum, Presidium of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Palace of Happiness and others. We will take measures so that boards with the names of their architects are placed on these buildings. The ancient part of Baku boulevard was designed by the Polish architect Kazimierz Skorewicz. He is famous in Poland and the world, he is the author of the building of Polandâ€™s parliament.

There will be new projects in the humanitarian sphere. There are broad relations with Azerbaijan, we are realizing the projects strengthening these relations step-by-step.