Polish Foreign Minister meets with his Russian counterpart

Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov during the UN General Assembly on Wednesday in New York. The conversation concerned the upcoming Polish chairmanship in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

“In connection with the preparations for Poland to assume the presidency of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in January 2022, Foreign Minister, Prof. Zbigniew Rau, while participating in the UN General Assembly, met with the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergei Lavrov,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Łukasz Jasina announced in a short statement.

“The subject of the talks between the ministers was related to the upcoming Polish chairmanship of the OSCE and the general debate of the UN General Assembly,” The Polish Foreign Ministry wrote on Twitter.

Today at the @UN headquarters in New York, FM @RauZbigniew met with 🇷🇺 FM Sergey Lavrov.

Topics of the ministers' talks were related to the upcoming Poland's 🇵🇱 chairmanship of the @OSCE and the general debate of the #UN General Assembly. pic.twitter.com/XN6XjTooZD

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs 🇵🇱 (@PolandMFA) September 23, 2021

In turn the Russians said that its main topic of the conversation was “the possibility of increasing the effectiveness of the Organisation” in order to renew its role as a platform for equal dialogue. Russia expressed hope that the Polish chairmanship would contribute to this.

The Russian Foreign Ministry added that the talks also concerned other issues like Polish-Russian relations, without giving any details.

🇷🇺🇵🇱 On the sidelines of the 7️⃣6️⃣th Session of the UN General Assembly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov held talks with Foreign Minister of #Poland @RauZbigniew.#RussiaPoland #UNGA76 pic.twitter.com/KTfg6qu6pn

— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) September 22, 2021

The talks between Mr Rau and Mr Lavrov was the first bilateral meeting of Polish and Russian representatives at this level since 2019.

Preparations for the OSCE chairmanship were the main topic of other meetings of the head of Polish diplomacy in New York. Before the meeting with Lavrov, Rau held, inter alia, talks with his Armenian and Azerbaijan counterparts about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.