Event

Polish perception of security situation in Europe will be the main topic of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Jacek Czaputowicz’s talk when he visits NUPI on 8 May.

Poland is an important partner of Norway – a NATO ally, a country with almost 100 000 of its citizens living in Norway, the most important export market for seafood from Norway and a country that is about to embark on a long-term strategic energy cooperation with Norway.

On 14 March 2019 Minister Czaputowicz delivered a programme speech where he outlined main goals of the Polish foreign policy. He paid special attention to Poland’s relations with the EU and NATO, underlining the importance of these two organisations in realization of the country’s foreign and security policy.  Also Norway was mentioned in this context as a country that is to help Poland diversify its energy supplies by joining Poland and Denmark in the Baltic Pipe project. Poland’s strategic relationship with the United States was presented as the cornerstone of Poland’s security policy, but Minister Czaputowicz discussed also Poland’s relations with key EU countries, such as Germany, France or the United Kingdom as well as Poland’s participation in various forms of regional cooperation. Russia was mentioned no less than 16 times in Minister Czaputowicz’s speech which reflects the importance of the Russian factor in Polish thinking about foreign and security policy.

Jacek Czaputowicz has been Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs since January 2018. He is a Doctor of Political Science and an Associate Professor of Humanities. During communist era in Poland he was an active member of antiregime opposition, for which he was imprisoned on several occasions. Following the collapse of the totalitarian system Mr. Czaputowicz was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta as well as the Cross of Freedom and Solidarity for his engagement. In 1990, he started working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, first as a Vice-Director, and later Director of the Department of Consular Affairs and Emigrants. From 2006 to 2008, he held the position of Director of the Department of Strategy and Foreign Policy Planning at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and from 2008 to 2012, he was Director of the National School of Public Administration. From January to September 2017, he headed the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was Undersecretary of State for legal and treaty issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as of September 2017 until he was appointed as Minister.

The event will be moderated by NUPI Director Ulf Sverdrup, and it will be live streamed on NUPI's YouTube channel: