Today, the Ukrainian-Polish meetings began in Yaremche under this year’s slogan “Ukraine and Poland in the context of the formation of a new world order.” This is the only regular scientific forum in Ukraine, which for 18 years in a row has brought together Ukrainian and Polish experts, diplomats, and scientists to exchange views.
The organizers of the forum are the Vasyl Stefanyk Carpathian National University, the Studio of East European Studies of the University of Warsaw, the Ivan Kuras Institute of Political and Ethno-National Studies of the NAS of Ukraine, the representative office of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kyiv, the Polish Institute in Kyiv, the Freedom and Democracy Foundation, and the Galician Courier NGO.
The grand opening was attended by the acting rector of Carpathian University, Ihor Tsependa, director of the East European Studies Studies Department of the University of Warsaw, Jan Malicki, deputy minister of foreign affairs, Oleksandr Mishchenko, Commissioner of the Government of the Republic of Poland for the reconstruction of Ukraine, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, Pawel Kowal, director of the Institute of Political and Ethno-National Studies named after I. F. Kuras of the NAS of Ukraine Oleg Rafalsky, Director of the Polish Institute in Kyiv Yaroslav Godun, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy Oleksandr Kopylenko, Director of the PAN Representative Office in Kyiv Mateusz Bialas, former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland to Ukraine Jacek Klyuchkowski, Director of the Institute of Southeast Europe (Przemysl) Stanisław Stempien, Consul General of the Republic of Poland in the Lviv Consular District Marek Radziwon, Editor of the weekly “Kurier Galician” Kostyantyn Chavaga.
“We will raise issues of historical memory and differences in the interpretation of individual events. We will talk about our economic relations and think about how agricultural producers of both countries should build a common policy in order to avoid negative incidents in the future. International cooperation and logistics are important to us – this is what unites our countries. Once again, we express our gratitude to our Polish colleagues and friends, who have remained reliable partners during the four years of the war. Starting from logistical and security issues and ending with interpersonal relations – we must preserve and develop all this. Our task is to model the situation, analyze it, predict it and convey it to politicians, because one reckless step can destroy those partnerships that have been built over decades. The future of the entire region will depend on the quality of our relations,” emphasized Ihor Tsependa, opening the conference.
This year, the meetings are attended by over 100 participants from Ukraine and Poland, who will exchange views during discussion panels on political, historical, and economic topics.
Also in Yaremche, presentations of new publications related to Ukrainian-Polish relations will take place. Meetings began with an online conference with former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski.
“A new world order is being created. There is no old, there is no new,” he declared.
Oleksandr Kwasniewski shared his view on the current political situation and the tectonic shifts taking place in the world, given Putin’s aggressive policy and the incomprehensible position of US President Donald Trump.
This was followed by a very interesting discussion between the conference participants and the ex-president in a question-and-answer format.
Also on the first day of the meetings, a conversation on the topic “Reconstruction of Ukraine in the Post-War Period” took place with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleksandr Mishchenko, Chairman of the Council for Cooperation with Ukraine, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland Pawel Kowal, and Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Kopylenko.
