Duda President Calls Poland-Ukraine Tensions Related To No Significant Impact Wheat

JAKARTA - Disputes between Poland and Ukraine regarding the import of grains will not have a significant impact on bilateral relations between the two countries, the President of Poland said on Friday.

Poland last week decided to extend the ban on Ukrainian grain imports, shaking ties with its neighbor Ukraine, while Warsaw has been seen as one of Kyiv's most loyal allies since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

"I believe the dispute over the supply of wheat from Ukraine to the Polish market is an absolute part of the entire Polish-Ukraine relationship," President Andrzej Duda said.

"I'm not sure this will have a significant impact on them, so we need to solve this problem among ourselves," continued the President Duda.

Slovakia, Poland and Hungary imposed national restrictions on Ukrainian seed imports, after EU executives decided not to expand the import ban on the countries and fellow members of the bloc, Bulgaria and Romania.

The countries argue that low-cost Ukrainian agricultural products are intended primarily for further transit to the west and to the port to be sold locally, thereby harming their own farmers.

The European Union, which imposed the ban in May, decided to end it last Friday, after Ukraine pledged to tighten controls.

President Volodymyr Zelensky angered neighboring countries, when he said at the UN General Assembly, Kyiv was trying to maintain land routes for the export of grains, but "political theaters" around the import of grains only helped Moscow.

The duda president was expected to meet President Zelensky in New York, but that kind of meeting didn't happen. When asked about this in an interview with TVN24's private television station on Thursday, he said "his atmosphere became tense" and felt bitter at President Zelensky's words.

However, he also said "of course" they were still friends and he hoped to speak directly with President Zelensky soon after the opportunity.