Joint Press Conference of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Polish President Karol Nawrocki

Q: Do you received an assurance from Mr. President and representatives of the Philippines concerning our ambition to remain for longer among the G20 format. What is the other types of support that you intend to seek before the summit, which will take place in Miami in December? How do you imagine a meeting with Vladimir Putin who was invited by the Americans to the summit? And I want to ask you, this is something that is very much important in Poland, the March of our Prime Minister of Defense with Trump. Do you know about this? Because Donald Tusk, our Prime Minister, says that this was not about the American base, which is to be built in Poland, but was about internal matters?

POLISH PRESIDENT KAROL NAWROCKI: So, in fact, you asked me three questions, very complex.

Okay, so let me begin. It is in the Polish interest, as you know, for a permanent base of American troops to be present in Poland.

The US is our strategic partner. Me, as the President of the Republic of Poland, I do see the potential, the necessity for the representatives of the Polish government to meet the American administration.

I do support these efforts. I did open the door for this presence thanks to my relationship with President Donald Trump. But it is obvious that the Polish government has to maintain a good relationship with the American administration.

The meeting you are referring to, sir, I did not get any report on that meeting.

I think the Deputy Prime Minister of the Polish government, Minister of Foreign Affairs for this, Mr. Sikorski and me, we should have received a report on this meeting of the Polish Minister of Defense.

I don’t know what you’re talking about. We have to ask the Prime Minister about this, and I’m sure that the Prime Minister knows.

But I think it’s good for Poland, as the President of the Republic of Poland, and also to see the Minister of National Defense of Poland, to meet the representatives of the American administration, including President Trump.

You have to ask Kosiniak-Kamysz, our Minister, about this.

I do not plan to meet Vladimir Putin. As you know very well, I consider him to be a dictator who started a few years ago a war in Ukraine, and Poland is a member of many formats, including the UN.

And let me remind you that the Security Council of the UN and the Russian Federation is a member of that.

I will not meet Vladimir Putin, but during the G20 meeting, I will be a guest of this format, of this meeting.

Regardless of what happens and who participates in this meeting, I will proudly represent Poland and the entire region and the Three Seas Initiatives. This meeting is foreseen naturally with Vladimir Putin.

And the third question, sir?

Q: It was about where you will be searching support for our G20 participation?

PRESIDENT NAWROCKI: You see a very ambitious agenda of meetings with G20 representatives.

And very important is that the Philippines are the leader in the ASEAN Association. They are chairing the works of this organization now.

All the countries, Asia, Southeast Asia countries, meet within ASEAN. I have a meeting planned in the UK.

I have met the president of the African Union. I have met African Union leaders. I will be visiting Senegal.

Some really hard work has been done by Minister Marcin Przydacz as the Sherpa of the Polish G20 group. So, I think the agenda is really good.

For three, four months, we have been doing everything we can for Poland to have a permanent seat within G20.

I do count on the support of the Polish government. One of the skeptical parties is the EU… Are not looking so much with a favorable eye to us joining the G20 format. I hope that the Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the Polish government will do the job also in the EU. And I hope that the EU will also support our efforts to become a member of the G20.

I have been doing everything I can, as you know, sir, and as you can see, we have managed to get an invitation from President Donald Trump.

It’s a big success of Poland. We do hope to be a member of G20 now.

Q: Hi, Your Excellencies. Sir, from the war in Ukraine to the tensions in the South China Sea, both Europe and the Indo-Pacific region are experiencing attempts to change the status quo via coercive actions and the use of force. What lessons can both the Philippines and Poland learn from each other given this evolving security landscape? And apart from like what you’ve mentioned, the purchase of helicopters and defense cooperation, maybe what’s next in terms of Poland-Philippine defense partnership?

PRESIDENT FERDINAND R. MARCOS JR.: Well, let me put it this way.

We have found in our discussions and in looking at the actuations of our two countries in response to the challenges, similar challenges that we are facing, because the immediate connection between Poland and the Philippines is the belief in a value system and the respect for international law.

And of course, these incursions or attempts to change territorial definitions are unacceptable in both Poland and in the Philippines.

And that is why it was – when answering the question, the President was very clear that the lines of communication remain open as much as possible.

This is exactly the policy that the Philippines is undertaking. And it is I believe the correct way with which we can resolve such issues, and we will continue to do that.

And in that regard, we work together by being partners and allies, and with the challenges, and dare I say, even threats that we face, that this is an important strategy, an important policy in terms of foreign policy that we widen our engagements with different countries, especially those who share our concerns and who share the value system that we have adopted.

It is a natural alliance between Poland and the Philippines because of our background in Christianity.

And Poland, being, I believe, you are now the largest Christian country in the world, and the Philippines being the number three.

That immediately has a very primordial – makes a very primordial connection between our two peoples, that cultural connection.

And that is why we have arrived at the same strategy, the same policy of keeping lines of communication open and widening our – to keep stable, widening our partnerships around the world to promote stability and peace.

And that is one of the most important elements of Philippine foreign policy and it turns out a Polish foreign policy as well.

All right.

Q: Maybe to President Nawrocki. Sir, given what happened to Ukraine, how important is it to prevent any other conflict, let’s say in this part of the world, in the South China Sea region, to prevent that from happening?

PRESIDENT NAWROCKI: Thank you, sir. First of all, the conclusion of our joint talks is that geopolitically speaking, security-wise all over the world, we are at a time where threats to security or to values in one region does not remain without an impact to what is happening in a different place, in a different region.

Therefore, it is so important to build bilateral relations between Poland and the Philippines.

It has a very practical dimension that 48 Black Hawks that Mr. President has also referred to, that they do play their role and they are produced in Poland, in Mielec precisely.

And these bilateral relations are really important for our security.

Poland can learn security-wise from the Philippines. What the Philippines are very good at is the attack to climate disasters, natural disasters.

We hope they will not occur. But there is the civil security, military security, these areas. This is where we can learn from each other. Our industries can cooperate as well.

The same concerns about your question, sir, the maritime aspect. Poland and other North Atlantic alliance member states. We are responsible for the Baltic Sea, the Philippines are an island.

So security – even several islands. So, maritime security is incredibly important, and this is also an area where we should cooperate.

The Baltic Sea is under permanent hybrid attacks from the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, the entire Europe, not only Poland, is affected by hybrid attacks of the Russian Federation.

And in the 21st century, it is something new as regards the tools which are being used for disinformation, for hybrid war, or for sabotage.

So, we have a lot of possibilities of joint bilateral cooperation.

— END —