WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Russia's foreign minister on Thursday praised the "new positive atmosphere" between his nation and Poland that has resulted in rapidly growing economic exchange, including a major gas deal.
Sergey Lavrov was on an official visit to Warsaw, where he met his Polish counterpart, Radek Sikorski. Officials said the gas deal, wihch has taken almost two years to finalize, is to be signed in Warsaw on Friday.
Lavrov also met with President Bronislaw Komorowski, who was elected in June, after his predecessor was killed in a plane crash in Russia in April. That tragedy brought an outpouring of sympathy from Russians and led to more intense bilateral contacts over an ongoing investigation.
At the same time the two countries have been forging closer economic, trade and cultural ties as Russia seeks out partners.
"The potential for developing our bilateral ties is huge," Lavrov said.
He said that the volume of economic exchange between the two nations grew by 40 percent in the first half of 2010 and was reaching almost $14 billion (€10 billion).
The much-awaited gas deal is an important element of that and will "assure our cooperation in the area for years to come," Lavrov said.
Under the deal, Poland’s annual imports of Russian gas will rise from 265 billion cubic feet (7.5 billion cubic meters) to 318 billion cubic feet (9 billion cubic meters) through 2022.
Some two thirds of Poland’s gas supplies come from Russia and the need for a new contract arose after Moscow eliminated Ukraine as the middleman in a price dispute that resulted in temporary gas delivery cuts to Poland and some other EU nations early in 2009.
The shortages have spurred the European Commission to take a closer look at Poland’s new deal with Russia to ensure it complies with the bloc’s rules of accessibility to other members.
Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad said Thursday the deal complies with the EU requirements.
The stretch of the pipeline through Poland will be operated by the Gaz-System company, owned by the Polish state and independent of the pipeline owners, in keeping with EU requirements.
Polish-Russian relations have been marked by years of tensions, particularly when the nationalist Law and Justice party led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, twin brother of the late, President Lech Kaczynski, held office from 2005-2007.
Thursday’s meeting was also aimed at laying the groundwork for a visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Warsaw on Dec. 6.
