Foreign minister invigorates Poland-phl economic activity
ATOP official from the Polish government sparked further economic activity and trade engagements among his country’s business leaders and their Filipino counterparts.
Last week Undersecretary Marcin Przydacz led a delegation from Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that undertook a three-country visit of Southeast Asia, which started in Singapore and culminated in Malaysia.
In between, the high-level representation met with local business bigwigs as well as Manila-based Polish information-technology firms affiliated with the International Chamber of Commerce-philippines at the “Digital Transformation 2.0” on July 13.
Przydacz opines that both Poland and the Philippines “have been quite successful…in terms of…economies, leveling up somehow the living standards of our societies [and] both of our nations.”
In a dialog with Metro Manilabased media, he lengthily discoursed on the effects of the Russian aggression of Ukraine as having “very negative repercussions [and] effects on the system of global markets,” which has led to the skyrocketing of energy costs, as well as inflation rates.
The Polish foreign minister likewise foresees a possible food crisis, which he believes could be “very dangerous for both of our countries.”
“All those phenomena are deeply rooted in the aggressive foreign policy of the Kremlin, which is trying to recreate a sphere of influence in…central and Eastern Europe, just as it was in the 19th Century,” he said. ”In the 20th Century many European nations were colonized in Central Europe…by the Eastern superpowers, and Ukraine was one of them. We cannot allow Russia to recreate a colony named Ukraine.”
He continued that any country trying to destroy this architecture is creating a dangerous situation for many others: “We don’t want to go back to any sphere of influence; we want to follow the rules, which were set many years ago. So the international rule order is the best [one which we can] live in.”
Przydacz exhorted the global community to adhere to international regulations and help Ukraine preserve its sovereignty, and insisted that “it shouldn’t be Moscow, [but rather the Ukrainian nation who will decide] its own future.”
The Polish government official touched on Ukraine as a significant producer of grain and enabler of food security in many countries in Africa and Asia. However, Russian fleets have blocked several ports, making it impossible for the former to export their grain through the Black Sea. That is why his country, he shared, is doing its best to help its beleaguered neighbor ship this grain through Polish ports to Asia and many other countries.
“It seems that our Russian neighbors are not very happy with this. They’ve also been limiting their own exports of grain to Asian and African countries in order to create problems for all of us,” he remarked. “That’s the best scenario for Russia. [But we cannot allow it to use famine as an instrument. Despite being smaller, we are trying to show our solidarity with Ukraine, as well as Asian] and African countries, in order to help our partners to survive this difficult time.”
The following are excerpts of the Polish official’s interview during his engagement with members of the local press:
What specific message did you bring to the Philippine government? did you also discuss the possibility of expanding requirements for military modernization?
PRZYDACZ: First, and the most important, is that we are ready to start our political and economic-cooperation dialogue with the Philippines. Our entrepreneurs are ready not only to offer the products, but some of them are also to invest. And here in the Philippines, there are already some on the ground doing quite good business.
There are businessmen already here offering new products for your economy, to make it even more competitive—although, you are quite competitive already. But there is always room for improvement for all of us. So, economic cooperation and politics should be deeply founded.
The second message of course, is to exchange those on the security challenges, which are ahead of us in both regions: in Central Europe and in Southeast Asia. We’ve been closely following what was going on in the South China Sea. It was quite natural for me not only to read our reports, but also talk to real experts on the ground and meet them in Manila.
With regard to our security cooperation and in defense, there were already many products offered by the Polish industry to the Philippines. We are ready to continue this good collaboration. As I’ve heard your government is very much satisfied with the quality of those products which we provided, especially with the competitive prices. So we are ready to continue this good coverage.
Your thoughts on the global energy situation vis-a-vis the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the use of energy as a seeming element of weaponization?
On energy security: Many of our European partners were very much [reliant] on Russian energy resources. Poland is not entirely dependent; although 10 years ago, we were 100-percent [leaning] on energy from Russia after its invasions of Georgia and afterwards, Donbass. We understood perfectly that our Eastern neighbor may use it as a tool of blackmail, of their foreign policy, and pressure us.
At that time, our government decided to diversify the energy resources. We built a special liquefied natural gas terminal [to have more independence] from other providers from the gulf countries, and transatlantic partners. With oil, we do have our own resources as well.
With coal, although it’s not the biggest source and the most popular right now, we are very much independent with regard to that. But that’s not the case of many other European Union (EU) partners. Unfortunately in 2015 to 2016, they [warned that it’s] not a good decision to be so dependent on Russia, especially because we were very much critical of the Nordstrom 2 pipeline, which was connected to Germany with Russia.
We were criticized by our EU partners that we are not open enough for good ties, especially economic, with Russia right now. I think it’s quite understandable why we were more hesitant about the irrational energy resources. That it was about the possible scenario of using that as a weapon. The weaponization of energy is a fact, and it’s not just a problem today. We [were] just cut off from Russian energy, [and so are] Scandinavian countries.
But I’m pretty sure the EU will survive. We’ll find [other sources]. In a way, it will probably cost us, because we were not prepared as the EU before. Now is the time to pay the cost. If we’ve done it in 2015, probably the situation will be a bit better now.
Of course, recession could happen, not only because of the war—it is just one of the factors. Another is inflation, which is equally rooted. So in this post-covid situation, we are working quite hard to avoid such a scenario.
It may happen that some entrepreneurs will try to relocate their businesses from the EU to Asia. As for now we cannot observe such a phenomenon on a massive scale. I think that we are living right now in a “global village.” Although after the pandemic, there is a bit of a “retreat from near globalization.”
We should all work very hard in order to avoid that kind of scenario of recession, because once it starts in the EU or in the US, the effects are also visible here in the region. So let’s work globally on this too, as soon as possible, finish this war…and to come back to normal, predictable relations. Let’s concentrate on this. What is most important now is to avoid the recession.
How does Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and you personally, foresee the resolution of the situation in Ukraine? Do you think it will still extend for many more months or years?
It’s a very good question, but [it would rather be for the leadership of Russia to answer, because they] started this war… they know where and how far they’re ready to go and fight.
What I can assure you of, is that Ukrainians are very much determined to continue the fight, because they know they are fighting for their freedom, their sovereignty and their rights. They are very motivated to do it. The only thing they need is our support, and it shouldn’t be only [from] the EU or the…collective West.
I think…the like-minded coalition: all friends of international law, and all countries which are not ready to come back to the concept of superpowers or the colonial past, should really support Ukraine today by sending whatever it needs, and by sanctioning those who are responsible for this war.
So, when you ask me about the possible scenario, I’m pretty sure Ukraine will fight until they win this war and regain the sovereignty over the entire part of the occupied territories. But it will probably be a bit longer.
But let me repeat: We cannot allow any superpower to dominate smaller countries, because once we let Russia do it with Ukraine, then it’s a very dangerous scenario for all the other countries in the world.