The United States should direct more resources to the Three Seas Initiative to counter the influence of Russia and China, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said while taking part in a virtual conference of world leaders organized by the Atlantic Council think tank.
In a conversation with Ian Brzezinski, one of the think tank’s experts, Morawiecki stated that “the Three Seas Initiative is still underestimated by the United States’s administration.”
In the prime minister’s opinion, the Central European region should be interesting for American investors and be a gateway to the EU, especially in the period of economic recovery following the pandemic.
Morawiecki also noted that the Three Seas was established to “reinforce our identity and the strength of our economy in relation to China”.
In context of the rivalry with Moscow and Beijing, the Polish prime minister spoke in favor of cooperation between the US and EU. He pointed to the same systems of values and interests in affairs which concerned Russia, the potential fourth coronavirus wave and challenges associated with climate change and inequality.
12 states between the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Sea
The Three Seas is a political-economic initiative established in 2015 out of the initiative of the presidents of Poland and Croatia. Currently, 12 member states located between the Adriatic, Baltic and Black seas are part of the Three Seas: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary.
The goal of the Three Seas is to promote dialogue and economic cooperation meant to develop infrastructure in Central Europe in the areas of energy production, transport and digital services.
The most recent Three Seas summit was held in Estonia with the participation of seven presidents from the region’s countries.
The Three Seas also possesses the Three Seas Fund which was initiated by the Polish national development bank BGK and Romanian Exim Bank. It is the initiative’s economic instrument and the fund’s representatives aim to gather between €3 billion to €5 billion in funding. Investments from the fund into infrastructure are meant to lessen the differences in development between Central and Western Europe.
