Poland, Italy favour expanding North-South cooperation - Duda

Polish President Andrzej Duda, summing up his two-day official visit to Rome, said Italy is an important partner for Poland and the visit showed both sides' will to further expand international cooperation along the North-South axis.

During a Thursday press briefing, President Duda referring to his political talks held with leading Italian politicians, said they were very good and important. He expressed hope for the intensification of Polish-Italian relations and cooperation, especially in economic terms.

Duda highlighted the need to overcome the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the related economic lockdown. "We must come out of this, but this demands good cooperation," said the president and pointed to the need of expanding bilateral trade contacts and cooperation in tourism.

The president said that his Italian talks also concerned security problems. "We discussed the situation in Belarus, how the EU should act in this case and what the expectations are," said Duda adding that the parties showed "absolute agreement" that everything should be done so that Belarus could hold elections that would be recognised by Belarusian society.

Duda said that like other societies, "also the Belarusian society has the right to freedom, the right to democracy, the right to decide about its own country and its governing bodies." "

Therefore, all these aspirations should be supported by EU countries. We had no doubts about that. There were no differences between us on this issue," added Duda.

On Friday, President Duda will pay a visit to the Holy See where he will be received in private audience by Pope Francis.