New Delhi, July 13 (ANI): Poland on Monday expressed support for India’s position on the conflict in West Asia, with Polish Secretary of State and Deputy Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Teofil Bartoszewski calling New Delhi’s approach “the right position” and emphasizing that the crisis should be resolved through diplomacy while ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking to ANI in New Delhi, Bartoszewski said India’s role as a major economy and energy importer makes its balanced approach particularly important amid the ongoing conflict.
“India’s position is the right position because you are a big country, an important country, and you benefit from free access to goods, including oil, and you depend very much on the oil and gas from the Gulf. Poland still maintains contact with Iran… We informed them that our preferred solution is a diplomatic one. So we do the same thing as Prime Minister Modi. We try to talk reason, but to moderate effect, I would say,” he said.
Addressing the conflict in West Asia, Bartoszewski stressed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to international shipping and opposed any attempt to impose transit fees.
“The Strait of Hormuz has to be open to traffic. We do not accept closing such waterways. We do not accept the way some people want to charge tolls for crossing the waterways. There is an international agreement that international seas are open to all traffic, and that is Poland’s definite position,” he said.
The Polish minister also reiterated Warsaw’s opposition to nuclear proliferation, including Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, while noting that only a limited number of countries, including India, possess nuclear arsenals.
“We firmly believe that Iran should not be allowed to make nuclear weapons. We don’t believe in proliferation of nuclear weapons. There are a few nations, including India, which have them, and that’s enough… We support the Indian stance on that because free trade is crucial… We welcome the ceasefire, although it’s not working completely… This dispute should be resolved diplomatically and politically, and not by force,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Secretary (West) Sibi George met with Bartoszewski and Poland’s Under Secretary of State in the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, Michal Baranowski, in New Delhi.
In a post on X, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the “wide-ranging discussions reflected the depth of the India-Poland Strategic Partnership and reaffirmed the shared commitment to strengthening cooperation across political engagement, trade and investment, technology, defense, culture, the fight against global terrorism, and other areas of mutual interest.” (ANI)
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