President: "Poland supports Ukraine's Western aspirations"
Poland fully understands Ukraine's aspirations to follow the same path that we chose 25 years ago, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said after a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in Warsaw on Wednesday.
The Polish president expressed hope that "close and friendly cooperation" with Petro Poroshenko would continue.
"I count on maintaining the very close and friendly cooperation and activities aimed to support Ukraine in its Western aspirations related to both the EU and NATO - a task very important for Ukraine, but also for Poland," Bronislaw Komorowski said after he signed into law a Polish bill that endorsed the ratification of the EU-Ukraine association agreement.
President Komorowski assured that Poland "supports Ukraine on its path to Western institutions," adding that this required hard work from both Ukrainians and Poles.
The president also stressed that Poland declared full understanding of the need to ensure Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. He noted that Poroshenko's visit was an opportunity to underscore Poland's solidarity with Ukraine "in a period of hardships and a deep crisis that Ukraine is going through partly due to the aggression by neighbouring Russia."
"At the same time Poland supports solutions that are sought through dialogue and agreement as we believe it to be the best path for Ukraine," Bronislaw Komorowski added.
Poland will support Ukraine in its efforts to reform the country, he said. "Poland wants to share its experience particularly in the field of local government reform," Bronislaw Komorowski said. "We want to build a climate of cooperation between our two countries and also a climate conducive to solving the crisis at the Russian-Ukrainian border," he added.
Asked whether Poland was ready to sell arms to Ukraine the Polish president replied that no embargo on arms sales was in force and "if Ukraine becomes interested, Poland is open to talks."
Poland can help Ukraine carry out necessary reforms, "we have agreed on concrete cooperation in implementing the decentralisation of power structure" in Ukraine, said President Petro Poroshenko.
Poroshenko reiterated that his administration was determined to implement reforms listed in the EU-Ukraine association treaty.
He announced that a constitutional committee with the task of implementing reforms decentralising power structure in Ukraine would be set up soon. "Poland's experience will be crucial for us in this respect. We consider the Polish approach to be the most effective of all European countries," the president went on.
He called Poland the greatest advocate of Ukraine in the EU. "I want to thank President Komorowski for his hospitality and for staunchly pro-Ukrainian stance," he declared.
Poroshenko thanked Poland for humanitarian assistance. "It is symbolic that right now Poland is sending two humanitarian convoys with aid for the people of Donbas who are in need of such help following the Russian aggression," the Ukrainian president said.
The two presidents also discussed economic cooperation and local cross-border traffic between the two countries.
Source: president.pl, PAP