Poland could assist Belarus in supplying electricity from the future nuclear power plant into the European Union, Belarusian Prime Minister Andrey Kabyakou told Polish Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Monday.
“We could very well work together in supplying electricity from Belarus to the European Union. Poland could use this electricity or could transit it further into the European Union,” state-run news agency BelTA quotes Kabyakou as saying.
According to the top official, such cooperation might become a new promising direction in Belarus-Poland relations.
The Belarusian NPP in Astravets is being constructed by Russia’s nuclear corporation Rosatom. The NPP first power-generating unit is scheduled for commissioning in 2018. The project faced opposition at home and abroad on both safety and political grounds. Lithuania is the main critic of the idea of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, which is only 20 km from the border and 50 km from Vilnius.
In 2015, Belarus and Poland revived their dialogue; this year, inter-agency cooperation, in particular, between the two countries’ agricultural and environment ministries, has been boosting. After a very long break, Poland’s Prime Minister visited Belarus. In turn, Belarus’ Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makey came to Poland and met with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Minsk is apparently hoping for intensifying cooperation with Poland in many fields. Today, meeting with Mateusz Morawiecki, the Belarusian leader offered Poland to ‘raise bar’ in mutual trade amid Russia’s food inport embargo.
Poland’s delegation is visiting Belarus now. Its head Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Development, is to be present at the opening of the 20th Belarusian-Polish economic forum Good Neighborliness, participate in the 4th meeting of the joint commission for economic cooperation and hold top level negotiations.
