Polish President Andrzej Duda welcomed government officials from across Central and Eastern Europe to Poland on Tuesday as he opened the third congress of the Three Seas Initiative.
This is an event during which local government officials from 12 countries located near the Baltic, Black, and Adriatic Seas talk about the future of the initiative and about regional security.
“The aim of our actions is to ensure security, peace and the greatest possible prosperity for our citizens,” Duda told attendees at the event held in Lublin, eastern Poland.
Present were the representatives of all the local governments of countries in the region, as well as strategic partners from the EU, Germany and the United States.
Opening the congress, President Duda said that there could be no getting away from the fact that what matters most to the region at present is peace and security. “As we have all been democratically elected, we appreciate that our primary responsibility is to guarantee the greatest possible degree of peace, security and prosperity for those who elected us,” he added.
The Polish president argued that the Three Seas Initiative adds value for all the states participating in it. “The Three Seas is to act as an accelerator and additional engine of growth to help the majority of countries in our region surpass the living standards and prosperity of Western Europe,” Duda said.
The Polish head of state also revealed that during the congress an agreement would be signed to form a Three Seas Regions Network. He added that he was pleased to see that Romanian and Ukrainian members were joining the network and hoped that this could help unlock the potential of the hundreds of local communities that enrich each region with their cultures, traditions, and local economies.
