Poland State Secy Wladyslaw Bartoszewski on Raisina Dialogue, Trump tariffs, and Starlink dispute

Marking his third time at the event, he highlighted its unique role in bringing together world leaders, policymakers, and experts from across continents.

"First of all, it's my third time at the Raisina, and it's a fantastic conference - the most important international relations conference in Asia, and everybody comes here. Last year, there were 3,000 people here. There's always a Guest of Honour, this year, it's the Prime Minister of New Zealand. Last year, it was the Prime Minister of Greece, before (it was) Giorgia Meloni from Italy. One of the values of this conference is that people come here from all over the world. It's not an Asian conference - it's a global conference," Bartoszewski said in an interview to ANI.

"You meet people from Australia to the United States, Europe, and Asia. Of course, many people from India. It's a great venue to exchange views and positions and have a lot of informal talks. One of the beauties of this conference is that we have panels, we have plenary sessions, and then we've got lots of time for 1 to 1 meetings which take place throughout the conference. People book each other and spend half an hour, which so many people, you could never do it anywhere else. It's a fantastic conference," Bartoszewski continued.

He pointed out that the discussions this year are expected to focus on major geopolitical shifts, ongoing conflicts, and economic challenges that are reshaping the international order. "I think this is the main topic of conversation, this change of the global order. New President in the United States, continuous Russian aggression in Ukraine, a new trade-war, potentially, potentially changing the world based on international law into a different form. This is very troublesome time, and definitely these would be the main topics of discussion."

On the strong European presence at the conference and India's growing engagement with Europe, Bartoszewski underlined the increasing focus on Indo-Pacific relations. "Europe is very interested in India and Asia, and the visit of Ursula von der Leyen (President of the European Commission) with all the commissioners over here will approve on this point. I am particularly interested in Indo-Pacific (discussions) since I'm involved in it daily. The future will be much more focused on Asia than we have up till now," he stated.

Speaking about India-Poland relations, he described the recent visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Poland as a landmark moment, strengthening ties between the two nations. "We signed a strategic partnership agreement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the visit was phenomenal. He brought with him a very strong team in foreign affairs and security. We're talking about security cooperation, we're talking about military cooperation, we're talking about trade, investments in IT, foods production. India is a good partner, and we have been together since the beginning of 1947, when we formed relations with India. The visit was historic, and the first time in 45 years that the Indian Prime Minister came. It was a success and we are going to build on that. We have a strategic agreement; we have an action plan - we are going to implement it over the next few years."

Addressing the topic of Elon Musk's Starlink and its use in Ukraine, Bartoszewski highlighted Poland's financial role in securing access to the service for Ukraine. "It's a lot on his part. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski pointed out that Ukraine didn't get Starlink - we actually paid 200 million dollars for it, and we gave it to Ukraine. We paid for it! So if you pay for something, you expect it to work. Mr. Musk confirmed that Starlink will keep being usable in Ukraine." (ANI)