Press Advisories

15. 3. 201621:35

Prime Minister Sobotka met with the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda

On Tuesday the 15th of March 2016 in Hrzánský Palace, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka met with the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, who arrived at the invitation of Czech President MilošeZeman. Together, they discussed current European issues, Visegrad cooperation and the development of cross-border transport and energy infrastructure. Another topic of discussion was cooperation in security and preparation of the NATO summit.

One of the topics of the meeting was migration. During the discussion, Prime Minister Sobotka agreed with President Duda that the common interest is to preserve the Schengen area and the free movement of persons. To fulfill this priority, it is important to strengthen the protection of external borders and significantly restrict the influx of migrants into the EU.

“I am glad that we on an EU level have finally found a consensus on what the V4 states have said from the beginning, that the main aim is to weaken the uncontrollable flow into Europe and prevent a repeat of the scenario from 2015”, said Prime Minister Sobotka.

Another point of discussion between the statesmen was the upcoming NATO Summit in Warsaw on the 8^th and 9^th of July 2016. The main topic of the summit will be to confirm the commitments from Wales, implementation of the Action Plan for preparedness and increasing spending of the NATO member states.

“The NATO summit in Warsaw is considered to be an important opportunity to demonstrate the unity and determination of the Alliance to ensure the safety of all its members in the current complicated security environment," said Prime Minister Sobotka.

Poland is a traditional trading and economic partner of the Czech Republic. In 2014 it was the third most important trade partner of the Czech Republic after Germany and the Slovakia in both imports and exports.