Polish Ambassador: We do not want to politicize BelNPP project

MINSK, 10 August (BelTA) – Poland has no intention of politicizing the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant (BelNPP), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Poland to Belarus Konrad Pawlik told the media after the meeting at the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, BelTA has learned.

The Polish Ambassador to Belarus was summoned to the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs following the statement of Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Witold Waszczykowski about the Belarusian nuclear power plant project.

“I was invited to meet with the head of the Main Department for Multilateral Diplomacy of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Both parties shared their positions on the BelNPP project. I stressed that the safety of the project and its compliance with the safety standards, including the international ones, are of crucial importance for Poland,” said Konrad Pawlik.

“Poland does not want to politicize the construction of the nuclear power plant in Belarus,” said the Ambassador. He also noted that the talks with the representative of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs were held in a friendly and constructive atmosphere.

As BelTA reported earlier, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Witold Waszczykowski stated that Poland has no plans of buying energy from the Belarusian nuclear power plant. The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued official comments saying that Poland did not voice any complaints or doubts regarding the safety of the project either at the bilateral level or within any of the international formats. In 2009-2013, Poland participated in the discussion of the report on environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the Belarusian nuclear power plant and voiced no opposition to the project. During the discussion of Belarus’ national report on the implementation of the Convention on Nuclear Safety ahead of the 7th Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties (27 March-7 April 2017) Polish counterparts submitted only three practical questions, to which Belarus provided full answers. 

Minister Waszczykowski said that Poland was not going to buy electricity from the BelNPP because of “unsafe technologies”. The Belarusian diplomats expressed surprise at this statement because Poland itself is considering developing nuclear energy.

The technologies used in the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant are successfully applied in similar projects in the EU countries such as Hungary, Slovakia, Finland, and the Czech Republic. Belarus is open to cooperation and contacts in nuclear safety, including in the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, with all the stakeholders and, of course, with the closest neighbors such as Poland.