Polish deputy FM, Iranian ambassador discuss planned Middle East summit
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
15.01.2019 12:30
A Polish deputy foreign minister has met the Iranian ambassador in Warsaw to discuss next month’s conference on peace and security in the Middle East, officials have said.
Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Warsaw. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Adrian Grycuk.
During their meeting on Monday, Poland’s Maciej Lang told Iran’s Masoud Edrisi Kermanshahi that "nearly 80 countries that represent different views and maintain different relations with Iran have been invited to participate" in the summit, which Poland is organising together with the United States, according to the foreign ministry in Warsaw.
“We want this event to offer an opportunity for in-depth discussions about developments in the [Middle East] region, and to look at ways of solving its major problems,” the Polish foreign ministry cited Lang as saying.
Lang and Kermanshahi met "at the request of the Iranian side," the Polish foreign ministry said.
The Iranian ambassador "expressed his hope that further work on the programme" of the conference "would make it possible to include a wider range of topics that were relevant to security in the Middle East," according to the Polish foreign ministry.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, Bahram Kassemi, has reiterated his country’s call to Poland to refrain from organising the conference, according to news reports.
He again sounded a note of warning, saying that the move by Warsaw would be met with a “severe response.”
In mid-February, Warsaw is due to host a two-day conference sponsored by the United States and focusing on stability and security in the Middle East.
The Iranian foreign ministry has said that during World War II Iran played host to some 120,000 Polish refugees who fled Soviet Russia with General Anders’ Army. It appealed to Poland not to undermine decades of good bilateral relations.
According to Tehran, the decision of the Polish government to host the American conference is a violation of European Union policies.
Officials in Iran say they have temporarily postponed a Polish Film Week that was due to be held in that country in a few weeks.
Iran last year asked Poland for help at the United Nations over a nuclear deal that Tehran made with the international community in 2015 and which was ditched by America last May, according to a report.
(mk/gs)
Source: gov.pl