Poland and Ukraine sign cooperation agreement

Poland and Ukraine have signed a cooperation agreement on regional policy that will see Warsaw support Kyiv in its negotiations to join the European Union, Polish companies take part in the postwar reconstruction of Ukraine, and Ukraine help Poland develop infrastructure for protecting civilians.

The agreement was signed by Poland's minister of funds and regional policy, Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, and Ukraine's deputy prime minister for reconstruction, Oleksiy Kuleba, on the sidelines of an OECD ministerial meeting on regional development policy in Warsaw on Tuesday.

The deal will see Poland “support Kyiv in European negotiations” while Ukraine will provide Poland with its “experience of protecting the population” and “support for Polish companies that want to participate in the reconstruction of Ukrainian regions”, said the Polish ministry.

“I am pleased with the signing of this document,” declared Pełczyńska-Nałęcz. “It will support the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine and the future accession of this country to the structures of the European Union.”

Her ministry noted that “Ukraine, as a country with experience and modern solutions in building infrastructure for the protection of civilians and the resilience of regions, will share know-how with Polish local and national authorities.”

“The transfer of this knowledge is particularly important for us in the context of Russia's aggressive policy,” it added.

Meanwhile, Poland will “support the Ukrainian authorities in preparing accession negotiations to the EU within the framework of regional policy and coordination of structural instruments”, including “helping prepare an efficient system for managing EU funds and investing at the national, regional and local level”.

“It will be beneficial for Poland that, drawing on Polish and European solutions in the transformation process, Ukraine will create institutional and market rules…[that] will make it easier for Polish businesses to conduct business activities and for public administration to cooperate with Ukrainian partners.”

Poland has been one of Ukraine's closest allies since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, including supporting Kyiv's aspirations to join the EU and NATO. Last year, the two countries also signed a security agreement .

Main image credit: MFiPR (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL )