Zmicier Lukashuk, Euroradio 17 February 2016, 16:10
The Polish Sejm's Foreign Affairs Committee approved at the 10 February meeting the nomination of Konrad Pawlik for the post of Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the Republic of Belarus. The candidature was proposed by Poland's Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski. The message about the new appointment was posted on the website of the Sejm.
Konrad Pawlik is a diplomat and economist. Born in 1976 in Warsaw. From 2006 to 2007 he worked in the Office of the President of Poland. Then he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2010 to 2012 he worked at the Permanent Representation of Poland to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. After returning to Poland, he worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Eastern Department, and since August 2014 Pawlik has been its director. He also served as the Special Representative of Foreign Affairs Minister for the Eastern Partnership, Vice-Minister.
With regard to Poland's policy towards Belarus, its main directions were presented before the deputies of the Sejm by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Witold Waszczykowski:
"We hope for the revival of the EU-Belarus relations. Polish diplomacy is not going to interfere in the politics of any state. However, we expect, especially from our neighbors, to keep to the standards established by law and international organizations. Release of political prisoners by the Belarusian authorities is a step in the right direction of compliance with international standards. However, if we want to go further down this road, we will need further joint action. We look forward to increased cooperation in the field of infrastructure, including improving the capacity of border crossings and simplifying the rules of crossing the border, particularly through the introduction of the Agreement on Local Border Traffic. We also understand that in the dialogue with Minsk it is not possible to avoid difficult questions. The problems of the Polish minority in Belarus will remain on our agenda. I hope that I will speak about these matter soon in Minsk."
It is not yet known when the new Polish ambassador will arrive in Minsk. The date of Minister Witold Waszczykowski's visit to Belarus is yet to be known as well. Euroradio reprted earlier that the minister is likely to visit Belarus at the beginning of May 2016.
