Romania one of Poland’s closest allies: Polish FM

“Romania is one of Poland’s closest allies, our countries are united by a similar perception of threats to security and of NATO’s role in fighting them,” the Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said. It is part of a two-day visit to Bucharest where he is taking part in Polish-Romanian-Turkish FMs trilog.

The visit was inaugurated by a meeting between the FMs and Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis.

Next, FM Rau spoke with his Romanian counterpart Bogdan Aurescu about the development of the two countries’ strategic partnership in the field of security and as part of the Three Seas Initiative.

The head of Poland’s diplomacy also met with Turkish FM Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. During the meeting, the official reviewed their countries’ bilateral relations and dubbed them very good. “We tackled a range of political and economic issues, including the state of Turkish-EU relations,” Poland’s MFA wrote.

FMs Rau and Auescu opened the exhibition “Allies. Poland-Romania. 1918-1939” which was prepared to mark the 100 anniversary of the establishment of the Polish-Romanian military alliance.

“Although the alliance was not tried in battle, the Polish-Romanian friendship survived the test of time,” FM Rau said, stressing his gladness with the durability of Polish-Romanian relations and that they were built on trust — something proved by the presence of the Polish Military Contingent in Romania and the Romanian equivalent in Poland.

The “Convention on the defensive alliance between the Republic of Poland and the Kingdom of Romania”, whose 100th anniversary is celebrated this year, was signed on March 3, 1921, by the then FM of Poland Eustachy Sapieha and his Romanian counterpart Take Ionescu.

The convention said that should one of the signatories be attacked then the other signatory will declare itself in a state of war and take up arms to help its ally.