President Iohannis to visit Poland, co-chair B9 meeting

Romania's President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday will visit Poland at the invitation of his Polish counterpart to co-chair a Bucharest B9 Summit (B9) together with Poland's President Andrzej Duda.

According to the Romanian Presidential Administration, the visit will include consultations with Duda on the bilateral strategic partnership and co-operation between Romania and Poland in security, regional and European affairs.

"In the Warsaw dialogue, special attention will be given to the security dimension that has grown in relevance in recent years, generating mutual benefits for both countries. From this perspective, the significant results of co-operation will be reviewed in the areas of defence as part of the bilateral relationship, inside the Bucharest (B9) format, in the preparation of the B9 Summit the next day, as well as inside NATO, " according to the Presidential Administration.

It is also mentioned that part of the regional cooperation also addressed will be the Three Seas Initiative and preparations for the summit that Romania will host in Bucharest September 17 and 18.

The two presidents will hold formal one-to-one talks and hold a joint news conference.

Iohannis and his Polish counterpart will inaugurate an exhibition called "The centennial of an alliance - Romanian-Polish Diplomacy 1918-1939" dedicated to the Romanian-Polish relations of the interwar period in the context of the Modern Romania Centennial and the Centennial of the Polish Independence.

The exhibition - mounted by the foreign ministries of Romania and Poland, the National Archives of Poland and under the high patronage of the two heads of state - prefaces a cycle of events dedicated to the triple anniversary of 2019: a century of Romanian-Polish diplomatic ties, 30 years after the collapse of the communist dictatorship and a decade of the Romanian-Polish Strategic Partnership.

On Friday, President Klaus Iohannis will attend the second Summit of Bucharest (B9) as its co-initiator and will moderate the works of the meeting with President Duda.

The summit will allow for an in-depth exchange of views among the participating states on the agenda for the next NATO summit, to be held in Brussels on July 11 and 12, with emphasis on the specific contributions of these countries. Thus, the meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss ways to strengthen the alliance's presence on the NATO Eastern Front, to highlight the importance of states represented in this format for allied solidarity and security, their relationship with aspiring countries and cooperation with partner states from the Eastern Neighbourhood. Particular attention will also be paid to extending the EU-wide security dialogue and enhanced cooperation between NATO and the European Union, including in terms of military mobility.

The B9 Summit agenda includes the participation of President Klaus Iohannis in the plenary session called "Warsaw Plus: bringing the security of NATO's Eastern Flank to the next level" and to the panel on "Military challenges, common responses" to be moderated by Iohannis.

Iohannis will also attend a presidential session called "What is the Level of Ambition for the Bucharest Nine Between Warsaw and Brussels?" of the Conference "The Bucharest Nine Before the 2018 NATO Summit in Brussels: Achievements, Challenges, Prospects," to be organised by the Polish Institute for International Affairs and the German Marshall Fund of the US.

Iohannis will also take part in the Polish Independence Centennial event hosted by his Polish counterpart. AGERPRES (RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Rodica State)