On September 19, the Ukrainian-Polish meetings began in Yaremche under this year’s slogan “25 years in NATO – 20 years in the EU: Poland’s experience, lessons for Ukraine.” This is the only regular scientific forum in Ukraine, which for 17 years in a row has brought together Ukrainian and Polish experts, diplomats and scientists to exchange views.
The organizers of the forum are the Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, the Studio of East European Studies of the University of Warsaw, the Ivan Kuras Institute of Political and Ethno-National Studies of the NAS of Ukraine, the representative office of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kyiv, the Polish Institute in Kyiv, the Freedom and Democracy Foundation, and the Galician Courier NGO.
The grand opening was attended by the acting rector of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian University Ihor Tsependa, director of the East European Studies Department of the University of Warsaw Jan Malicki, director of the I. F. Kuras Institute of Political and Ethno-National Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Oleh Rafalsky, Consul General of Ukraine in Krakow Vyacheslav Voinarovsky, director of the PAN Representative Office in Kyiv Mateusz Bialas, Vice-Marshal of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship Piotr Pilch, and editor of the weekly “Kurier Galicianskiy” Kostyantyn Chavaga.
This year, over 100 participants from Ukraine and Poland will take part in the meetings, who will exchange views during 8 discussion panels. In addition, six presentations of new publications related to Ukrainian-Polish relations will be held in Yaremche.
The first day of the forum began with a discussion panel “European and Euro-Atlantic projects in response to Russian aggression”, which was moderated by Ukrainian political scientist, conflictologist-internationalist, director of the Institute of Foreign Policy Studies, Doctor of Political Sciences Hryhoriy Perepelytsia.
Is there anything more important than protection from a common enemy that threatens all of democratic Europe today? Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (2014–2019) Pavlo Klimkin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland to Ukraine (2001–2005) Marek Zyulkowski, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Poland (2010–2014) Markiyan Malsky, and Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Lutsk (2020–2024) Sławomir Masik shared their thoughts on Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic prospects.
The first day of the Ukrainian-Polish meetings in Yaremche was concluded by a meaningful conversation about plans for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine with the Chairman of the Council for Cooperation with Ukraine, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Sejm, Pavlo Kowal.