“The idea to organize this conference is based on the fact that the Czech Republic and Poland have a number of common attitudes, opinions, and interests and face many similar problems. The relationship with Russia is one of the typical examples – both our countries share a similar historical experience,” stated Deputy Minister Chmelař. He added that the Czech-Polish relationship is exceptionally strong and shared his hope that the current dispute over Turów will be just a short story in our relations.

The opening remarks were delivered by Małgorzata Kosiura-Kaźmierska, Director of the Eastern Department of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jaroslav Kurfürst, Special Envoy for the Eastern Partnership Czech Foreign Ministry, and Břetislav Dančák, Chairman of the Program Council of the Czech-Polish Forum and Vice-Rector of Masaryk University in Brno.

The conference is part of a wider project of the Association for International Affairs, which is working on it with its Polish and Czech partners. Other outputs of the project will be articles in New Eastern Europe reflecting the topics of the conference, policy paper, and podcasts. The project was financially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic through the Czech-Polish Forum.