President declares "diplomatic offensive" ahead of Biden visit

Poland's president will launch a personal "diplomatic offensive" ahead of a visit to Poland by US President Joe Biden with meetings planned with the Nato secretary general, the British prime minister, the German chancellor and the presidents of France, Lithuania and Slovakia.

Andrzej Duda presented on Monday his plans for the coming week prior to Biden's visit, which is scheduled for February 20-22, saying it was a good time "to undertake my own diplomatic offensive."

"Independently of the coming visit of President Biden, we have designed a whole range of activities... and we're really launching that diplomatic offensive literally in the coming days," Duda said.

The president announced that on Tuesday he would talk to Slovakia's president, Zuzana Caputova, and Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda via video link. On Thursday, he will meet Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, from where he will travel on to the UK to meet King Charles III and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

"Then I will go to Munich where there will be a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, as well as the newly elected president of the Czech Republic (Petr Pavel - PAP) and the prime minister of Norway (Jonas Gahr Store - PAP)," Duda explained.

He said the key subject of his meeting with the Nato chief would be issues related to a planned summit of the alliance in Vilnius in July as well as a meeting with the leaders of the Bucharest Nine countries making up Nato's eastern flank, scheduled to take place in Warsaw during Biden's visit.

The president pointed out that Slovakia currently holds the presidency of the Bucharest Nine and Lithuania will be hosting the upcoming Nato summit.