Polish Lessons From Miller In Lviv

Owing to the participation of the Prime Minister of Poland Leszek Miller, the Second International Economic Forum on the Development of Cross-Border Cooperation, which took place in Lviv from October 3 to 5, became extremely important for Ukraine in the context of the current political and diplomatic events. After all, while there were no doubts about the participation of the head of the Ukrainian government Anatoly Kinakh in the Forum, his Polish colleague, due to the difficult political situation in Ukraine, had second thoughts on the expediency of the visit. But he came all the same, which added a striking political coloring to the economic event. In all over 500 representatives of Ukrainian and foreign business delegations from 14 countries took part in the work of the forum and official representatives of the governments of Slovakia, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, and Belarus, the last of whom had not been expected in Lviv. A day before the forum they had refused to take part in its work “in connection with the emergency situation in the country.” In the forum new investment projects were discussed, as was the widening of the network of regional negotiations in the Carpathian region, the introduction of customs and border controls at admission points and the introduction of ecologically safe water-use in the Lower Danube region.

MILLER INVITES UKRAINIANS TO ROUND TABLE IN WARSAW

As early as in his opening speech, the Polish Prime Minister tactfully expressed the fact that talk of European investment in Ukraine against the background of the Kolchuha scandal seemed a little out of place. He also said that Poland was following the conflict between the Ukrainian authorities and the opposition closely and recommended the resolution of the conflict through dialog, offering Polish delegation in the affair. Oleksandr Moroz, who met with Miller in the Polish General Consulate in Lviv, tried to convince him of the impossibility of dialog. Miller then suggested that Ukraine use the experience of his own country in the holding of a round table with the authorities and the opposition. Representatives of both the authorities and the opposition were invited to take part in an international conference on the problems of European integration in Warsaw on October 15-16. October 7 in Poland Miller stated that the negotiations at this meeting would be a constituent part of the discussions of the position of Ukraine in relation to the expansion of the European Union and NATO.

As is entirely natural, the head of the Polish government visited the Polish military tomb in the Lychakiv cemetery. Here he noted that the reason it could not be opened officially was not because of a misunderstanding between Poland and Ukraine, but from a dispute between two Ukrainian centers – Kyiv and Lviv. “This is an internal Ukrainian problem you will have to solve for yourselves,” said Miller. At the same time, the Polish PM underlined the announcement of the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz on the unsuitableness of recognizing the Ukrainian Insurgents Army (UPA) as a belligerent side in the Second World War. “You would hardly meet Poles in Poland who would say that the UPA was a belligerent side. On the contrary you would meet Poles who would tell you about how much tragedy the UPA brought. Therefore I think that Cimoszewicz’s statement reflects what Poles themselves actually feel,” noted Leszek Miller. It would be interesting how the French, for example, would react if a similar statement was made in France about their Resistance Movement by some high-ranking German figure.

KINAKH: NO LOSSES FROM THE CONSORTIUM

During the forum the Ukrainian Prime Minister did not concentrate on the political aspect. Our country, as Anatoly Kinakh noted at the opening, welcomes Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and the Baltic countries’ imminent entrance into the European Union. We also hope, he underlined, that membership of the European Union would strengthen and deepen their relations with Ukraine. Kinakh also considers that it is necessary to pay more attention to the improvement of trade regimes, the formation of a more effective system of providing credit for border areas and favorable conditions for investment. During the negotiations between the heads of the Ukrainian and Polish governments, Kinakh said that Ukraine had significant transport potential and played a very big role in the question of the energy security of Europe. He also noted that Ukraine and Poland played a large role in the question of the diversification of delivery of energy carriers to Europe. Besides, according to Kiankh, Ukraine and Poland would join powers in cooperation on the formation of the Odesa (Southern Terminal)-Brody-Gdansk Eurasian oil transport corridor. The Ukrainian Prime Minster stressed the importance of the fact that the EU was considering this – after the two Prime- Ministers had sent a letter to the institution, in which their common position and the potential for Ukraine and Poland in this project for the energy security of Europe is laid out in detail. Neither did Kinakh miss the opportunity to deny statements by several Ukrainian politicians on the inexpedience of Ukraine’s participation in the formation of a gas transportation consortium. “For us this question is strategically important. We must unite the forces of the producers and consumers of oil and gas. Currently Ukraine, Russia, and Germany are taking part in this project. I can assure you that the formation of the consortium will cause no damage to Ukraine,” said the Prime Minister.

Miller made assurances to the Ukrainian Premier that the Polish borders would always remain open for those wanting to enter the country legally. Moreover, he expressed confidence that agreements would be reached so that our fellow countrymen would have the opportunity to acquire Polish Visas more cheaply than the citizens of other countries would and that inhabitants of the region near the border would be able to cross the border without visas.

While the forum was going on, an investment fair was also taking place, at which over 250 investment projects were presented, with a total value of $ 1 billion. Representatives of the Ivano-Frankivsk, Volyn, Vinnytsia, and Odesa oblasts as well as those from Lviv itself, displayed their investment proposals. According to the head of the organizing committee, the Governor of the Lviv oblast Myron Yakiv, if 10% of the projects are realized, the event could be considered as successful. Other experts believe that all projects would be realized, at best, in ten year’s time.

A peculiar ‘anti-forum’ had also been planned, whose participants would have appeared on the streets of Lviv with no clothes on in order – according to the organizers of the event, who had for a long time not been able to get expensive imported equipment through customs – to demonstrate to the world the real relations between investors and their lack of protection before the arbitrariness of the Ukrainian bureaucracy. However, the ‘anti- forum’ did not take place.