Ambassador: Ukraine and Poland have made right conclusions about blocking border
This was stated in an interview with Ukrinform by former Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Zvarych.
According to him, the blocking of the common border and the steps taken by the authorities of both countries to unblock it were a test of the strength of bilateral relations.
"And, in my opinion, we passed it with dignity. Both Poland and Ukraine drew the right conclusions from it. And I believe that this slightly crumpled page has already been turned and is a thing of the past. The border must remain inviolable. Blocking the border because of a protest should not be tolerated under any circumstances," the diplomat stressed.
He stressed that both sides have seen that this is a false strategy that only exacerbates rather than solves the problem, and on the other hand, it is a convenient field for provocations, including through external interference to quarrel Ukrainians with Poles and reduce the level of mutual public sympathy.
"We know who is interested in this," said the former Ukrainian ambassador to Poland.
Zvarych stressed that the strategy of dialogue was chosen to solve the problem of the border blockade. In particular, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal proposed a step-by-step action plan, which was successfully implemented.
"One of the common results was the EU's de facto ban on imports of Russian and Belarusian agricultural products. In addition, we managed to engage the direct stakeholders in the dialogue - associations of carriers and farmers. And everyone saw that people who are engaged in this business on a daily basis understand each other's problems, are able to speak the same language and reach an agreement," said the former Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland.
He expressed hope that in the future, even if various problematic issues arise, including in the course of pre-accession negotiations between Ukraine and the EU, the dialogue strategy will prevail, and both sides will "find common ground and mutually beneficial solutions".
As reported, the Polish-Ukrainian border has been blocked by carriers since November last year, and since February this year by Polish farmers. On 29 April, Polish farmers completely ended the blockade of the border with Ukraine. The main demand of Polish farmers to the Polish government was a ban on the import of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine to the Polish market.
