Question: On June 19, Russia's Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is going to visit Poland. How are Russian-Polish relations developing at present?

Answer: Russia seeks to build relations with Poland on a pragmatic basis, by taking mutual interests into account. We pay particular attention to maintaining stable, even and predictable relations with this major European country, which borders directly on the Russian Federation.

Our intention is to use the upcoming talks for further contacts in every area, for finding common ground between the two countries on pressing international issues, and above all on the European continent.

There has been a noticeable quickening of contacts in the cultural and humanitarian field. Important events were the Days of Russian Culture held in May 1999 for the first time in ten years in 12 Polish cities. In May 2001, the Days of Polish Culture took place in Russia. The Days of Polish Science in Russia organised in October 2001 under the patronage of Presidents Vladimir Putin and Aleksander Kwasniewski came as a confirmation of the objective interest existing among scientists of the two countries in cooperation.

A major project in this sphere will be a large-scale exhibition scheduled for 2004, "Moscow-Warsaw. Warsaw-Moscow. 1900-2000". The possibility is being examined of holding further Days of Russian Culture in Poland in 2003-2004.

Question: What is the level of development of commercial and economic relations?

Answer: Poland is one of our leading partners in the trade and economic field and plays a key role in transiting Russian energy sources to Western Europe. Our 2001 trade amounted to 5.1 billion dollars. But there are considerable reserves for building up Russian-Polish coordination in this field by expanding banking, investment and other types of cooperation.

We consider it important to ensure that Poland's entry into the European Union does not reduce volumes of trade and economic cooperation and does not create additional barriers to people-to-people contacts, including the forthcoming introduction of a visa regime for crossing the Russian-Polish border. This must equally interest both Russia and Poland.

Question: What events are included in the programme of the upcoming visit?

Answer: Ivanov's visit to the Republic of Poland and his forthcoming talks with the Polish leadership are a logical continuation of the rapidly developing bilateral political dialogue. The main aim of the visit is to consolidate positive trends in Russian-Polish relations and to make a close analysis of implementation of the accords reached during a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Aleksander Kwasniewski in January and June of this year and aimed at raising cooperation between our countries to the level of a mature and good-neighbourly partnership.

Also planned are conversations between Ivanov and President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Prime Minister Leszek Miller and Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz.

During the visit the committee on strategy for Russian-Polish relations headed by the foreign ministers will have its first meeting and examine the most important aspects of bilateral coordination and improvement of the juridical basis.

Special attention at the talks will be given to questions concerning vital supplies for the Kaliningrad region following the enlargement of the European Union, including the problem of free transit of cargoes and people between this region and "mainland" Russia. The sides will also discuss preparations for the first meeting of a public forum of Russia and Poland, designed to promote closer ties between Russian and Polish intellectuals and to generate ideas aimed at overcoming the historically established negative stereotypes.

In the course of the visit honorary diplomas of the Russian and Polish foreign ministers will be handed out for services in strengthening mutual understanding and drawing together the public of the two countries. The winners are, on the Russian side, art and musical critic S.I.Belza and, on the Polish, well-known director and choreographer J.Jozefowicz (who staged the Metro musical which has been running with much success since October 1999 on the stage of Moscow's Operetta Theatre).

Question: What international issues may get priority at the negotiations?

Answer: When discussing international issues the main emphasis is expected to be placed on promoting coordination of efforts between Russia and Poland in the struggle against international terrorism and cutting off funding to all sorts of terrorist organisations. Special accents will be put on a future architecture of European security considering the new format of Russia-NATO joint work and cooperation between Russia and Poland in a situation when the EU is enlarged.