(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 3. The long history ofPolish-Azerbaijani friendly ties is a good foundation for furtherdevelopment of bilateral relations, Rafał Poborski, PolishAmbassador to Azerbaijan, told Trend in an exclusive interview.
"The dynamics of contacts over the last four years differs. In2020-2021 period we observed a slow-down caused by COVID-19restrictions. However, since 2022 Poland and Azerbaijan have notonly managed to return to the pre-pandemic level of contacts butalso started developing cooperation in new areas. One of theimportant steps that enabled us to foster people-to-people contactsand economic cooperation was the opening of direct flights betweenWarsaw and Baku in May 2022. This connection, operated by Poland'snational carrier LOT Polish Airlines, is very popular amongAzerbaijanis traveling to Poland for studies and work. It alsocontributes to increasing the number of Poles visiting Azerbaijan,for tourist but also business purposes. It naturally helped tofacilitate contacts between state institutions too," he said.
Ambassador Poborski believes that in 2024 the bilateralcooperation between Poland and Azerbaijan will be even moreintensive than over the past couple years. He expressed hope thatthe long-planned Polish-Azerbaijani meetings at the highest levelwill take place in the coming months.
Furthermore, the diplomat pointed out several areas whereAzerbaijan and Poland have already established successfulcooperation. Regarding the transport sector, he noted that Polandand Azerbaijan are situated at the crossroads of internationaltransport corridors that link Europe and Asia.
"So, growing roles of our countries as logistic and distributioncenters are natural. Within the emerging and developing transportcorridors, we support the development of transport and logisticscooperation with Azerbaijan while also building its position as aninternational transport and logistics hub between East and West the Russian aggression against Ukraine in February 24, 2022,and due to international sanctions that affect connections viaBelarus and Russia, the Middle Corridor is an interestingalternative. Poland's interest in the development of this corridorwas confirmed by signing a letter of intent on cooperation betweenthe Baku International Sea Trade Port and the Polish Port of Gdanskin 2022. A few meetings of the bilateral working group of bothports representatives have already taken place," he elaborated.
He mentioned that there is also strong potential for cooperationin the renewable energy sector between the two countries, several Polish producers could enter the developinggreen energy market in Azerbaijan
"In addition to its huge hydrocarbon reserves, Azerbaijan isalso a potential green energy powerhouse, and therefore, we welcomethe decision of your authorities to pay more attention torenewables, the role of which will only increase in the future companies could contribute to building this new andlucrative branch of Azerbaijani economy just as Polish engineershelped develop your oil and gas industry more than 100 years ago will be happy to support any initiatives to strengthen ourcooperation in this area," he said.
According to the ambassador, Poland is successfully diversifyingaway from the reliance on fossil fuels, and the share of renewableenergy resources in its energy mix is steadily growing.
"The capacity of renewable energy installations in Polandreached a record of over 28.8 GW at the end of 2023. Renewablesgenerated 26 percent of Poland's electricity in 2023, up from 19.3percent the previous year. The increase – together with the dynamicand abrupt development of renewables – would not be possiblewithout the technical thoughts, innovations, and solutions in thisfield contributed by Polish entrepreneurs. The Polish domesticenergy companies are playing a key role in this process bydeveloping photovoltaic projects and initiating the implementationof offshore wind energy projects on a large scale. We also seeenormous potential for hydrogen technologies that could beimplemented in industries where electrification is not technicallyor economically feasible. This is reflected in the activities ofour research institutes and companies successfully developinghydrogen technologies across the entire value chain," Poborskinoted.
The diplomat also provided an update on the implementation ofcooperation with Azerbaijan within the V4-Azerbaijan Tech Bridge(V4ATB) program, initiated by the Polish Embassy in 2022 andcompleted in 2023.
"The one-and-a-half-year program was implemented by the VisegradGroup (V4, Czech-Hungarian-Polish-Slovak) consortium led by theStartup Hub Poland Foundation. Its goal was to enhance cooperationand interaction between V4 countries and Azerbaijan startupecosystems. And this goal was achieved. Over 160 Azerbaijanistartups applied to participate in the program. The internationaljury selected 80 out of them who took part in the intensivetraining, workshops, bootcamps, and meetings with partners (likeinvestors, accelerators, and business angels) from the V4countries. The 10 best Azerbaijani projects reached the semi-finalsof the program which took place in Baku in June of 2023. As aresult of the program, many V4 investors had the opportunity totake a closer look at the potential of Azerbaijani innovators, andAzerbaijani startups gained knowledge about V4 markets andecosystems," he explained.
As a result of this cooperation, the ambassador believes thatnew joint innovative technological solutions and products ofPolish-Azerbaijani origin could emerge in the European and worldmarkets.
"Relations established during the V4ATB program and its finalein Baku are already paying off and will continue to bear fruit inthe future. The number of visits of representatives of theAzerbaijani innovation ecosystem to Poland is increasing, and wealso expect further visits of Polish partners to Azerbaijan. We areready to implement similar programs if there is interest from theAzerbaijani side. Poland, with its current innovations and startupsupport programs, is the best place for young high-tech companiesinterested in developing their business and ideas on the UE market investors, venture capital, and private equity funds areactively looking for attractive investment targets and innovativeprojects around the world. Azerbaijani startups and innovativeentrepreneurs could take advantage of this offer and the relatedopportunities. As a result of such cooperation, new innovativetechnological solutions and products of Polish-Azerbaijani origincould appear in the European and world markets," he said.
Rafał Poborski also emphasized that fields of cooperation suchas education, science, and culture are key factors in thedevelopment of bilateral relations between Poland andAzerbaijan.
"During my more than four-year term as ambassador of theRepublic of Poland in Baku, I have always attached great importanceto people-to-people contacts, believing that they allow us to getto know and understand each other better. For example, almost everymonth delegations from Polish universities and think tanks come toAzerbaijan to develop bilateral scientific and student exchange aswell as to promote study opportunities in Poland. Currently, adelegation of over 20 scientists and students from PostgraduateEastern Studies at Warsaw University is staying in Baku - duringtheir visit, they have been meeting with Azerbaijani experts tobetter understand Azerbaijan's history and current developments inthe South Caucasus," the ambassador noted.
He also pointed out the successful cooperation between Polishand Azerbaijani artists, and spoke about the role of the Embassy inenhancing these relations.
"In December 2023, our Embassy and the Arts Council Azerbaijanco-organized workshops 'Poland through the eyes of Azerbaijaniartists' for 10 Azerbaijani painters who made artworks thematicallyrelated to Polish history, culture, etc. This event took place inthe 'open studio' formula at the 'Nur Art House' gallery at Baku'sold town with the participation of i.a. the Polish community andAzerbaijani art lovers. In March 2024 we presented in the StatePuppet Theater in Baku a photographic exhibition 'Polish PuppetryArt,' showing examples of puppets and marionettes from Polandphotographed by the Azerbaijani artist and art curator AydinSadikhov. The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Baku organizesevents to promote knowledge about Poland in Azerbaijan andPolish-Azerbaijani historical and cultural ties. One of our mostrecent projects in this area concerns the contribution of Polishengineers living at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries to thedevelopment of oil and gas industry in Azerbaijan. At the beginningof 2024 we sponsored the publication of the book on WitoldZglenicki (1850-1904) - a Polish inventor, geologist andphilanthropist, little known in Azerbaijan, whose discoveries madea significant contribution to the development of the Azerbaijanigas and oil sector. In February the Embassy and the National Museumof the History of Azerbaijan organized the promotion of this bookin Azerbaijani language version. In April 2024 we promoted theEnglish version of this publication to readers in Azerbaijan," hesaid.
When speaking about the future prospects for the development ofrelations between Azerbaijan and Poland, the ambassador emphasizedthat recent months have seen many developments that have createdfavorable conditions for this process.
"With newly created governments in Poland and Azerbaijan wegained new dynamism in political ties. We count on participation inmajor international gatherings in Baku such as COP29 and NationalUrban Forum. My country welcomes the steps taken by Azerbaijan tonormalize relations with Armenia and the delimitation of theAzerbaijani-Armenian conditional border in April 2024. Stabilityand peace in the South Caucasus will surely bring new opportunitiesfor inhabitants of the region but also for Poland. It could berelated to the reconstruction of Karabakh and liberated territoriesfor example. Polish experts - architects, engineers, but alsospecialists in the protection and reconstruction of historicmonuments - could provide support to the Azerbaijani side inprojects implemented in these areas. But there are also otherbusiness chances that I presented, educational cooperation,people-to-people contacts, cultural ties and so on. We should doour outmost to fully use the existing potential ofPolish-Azerbaijani cooperation. I believe that we are on the rightpath," he added.
Ambassador Poborski, highlighting the celebration of Poland'snational holiday, Constitution Day, noted that it laid thefoundation for good and active Polish-Azerbaijani cooperation atthe beginning of the 20th century and in the past threedecades.
"Today we celebrate a special day for Poles around the world –233rd anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of May 3rd1791. This Constitution was the first one in Europe and the secondin the world after the United States. It was a modern basic lawregulating the state system and the relations between authoritiesand citizens of multiethnic and multi-confessional Republic ofPoland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania that together constituted theCommonwealth of Two Nations. It was so modern that authoritarianneighbors of Poland - being afraid of its influence on their ownsubjects - invaded, partitioned and occupied the country for thenext 123 years. But the Constitution of May 3rd 1791 was a guidinglight for Poles, Lithuanians, Belarusians, Ukrainians and manyother repressed nations that fought in Europe for their freedom inthe XIX century. Also for nations seeking independence in theTsarist Russian Empire, Azerbaijanis among them. It is nocoincidence that soon after achieving political independence in1918 both Poland and Azerbaijan adopted Constitutions based onfundamental freedoms and equal democratic rights for all theircitizens irrespective of their ethnic, religious, political orgender status. That phenomenon repeated in 1990 when Poles andAzerbaijanis were getting rid of the Communist legacy. It createdthe fundaments of good and active Polish-Azerbaijani cooperation atthe beginning of the XX century and in the past three decades. Thelegacy of the Constitution of May 3rd 1791 is still valid today forPolish-Azerbaijani relations," Rafał Poborski concluded.
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