Japan will offer Poland financial development assistance to support in assisting the neighbouring war-torn Ukraine, announced Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a meeting with his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki.
On Wednesday, Kishida visited Warsaw, one day after he made an unannounced visit to Kyiv, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,
“Bearing in mind the increasing burden on Poland due to the prolonged invasion of Ukraine,” Japan would offer Poland financial development assistance and is looking to “vigorously build up” bilateral projects.
Poland’s special role with regard to the war in Ukraine means Japan will make an exception to the aid it typically sends to developing countries, said Kishida.
Japan’s decision “is a huge success by the Polish government and Prime Minister Morawiecki,” ruling Law and Justice MEP Izabela Kloc (PiS, ECR) Izabela Kloc told EURACTIV.pl. It is a crucial decision for geopolitical reasons, showing that the Japanese appreciated Polish efforts in helping Ukraine, she added.
Expanding economic cooperation with Poland “in new fields such as high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, clean coal technology, and hydrogen” is also something Japan wants to see happen, Kishida announced.
“It is a clear sign that Poland matters in the international area and is considered to be a good and reliable economic partner,” said Kloc.
Pointing to the increasing cooperation between Poland and South Korea, with a nuclear plant in Poland as one of the planned joint projects, Kloc said that an economic alliance between the US, Korea, Japan and Poland seems to be clearly forming.
This proves that Poland can count on cooperation not only within the West but also with the more remote countries, the MEP concluded.
More than 350 Japanese companies, mostly in the manufacturing industry, currently operate in Poland.
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)
Source: euractiv.com
