On Monday, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda congratulated his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda on his re-election and emphasised the importance of bilateral cooperation in defence and infrastructure.
“Congratulations to my friend Andrzej Duda on winning the Polish presidential election for the second term!” Nausėda tweeted. “I wish you strength and success. Looking forward to continuing close cooperation in security, defence and implementing regional infrastructure projects.”
Later on Monday, Nausėda told reporters that Duda’s re-election meant that close bilateral relations between Lithuania and Poland could be maintained.
Congratulations to my friend @AndrzejDuda on winning the Polish presidential election for the second term! I wish you strength & success. Looking forward to continuing 🇱🇹&🇵🇱 close cooperation in security, defence and implementing regional infrastructure projects. pic.twitter.com/aFWIIg1NP3
— Gitanas Nausėda (@GitanasNauseda) July 13, 2020
“In the past year, I’ve worked really intensively with the Polish president and prime minister,” the Lithuanian president said. “What’s very important is that we find agreement on many issues, including infrastructure projects and economic relations.”
After a strained period, Lithuanian–Polish relations have recently warmed up. Nausėda chose Poland for his first first post-inauguration foreign visit last year.
Read more: Poland’s tumultuous election – what’s in it for Lithuania?
A major breakthrough in the bilateral relations came in 2017, when the deal between the state railway company Lithuanian Railways and Poland’s Orlen, owner of crude refinery in Mažeikiai, northwestern Lithuania, was signed
Warsaw also seeks support from Vilnius in its row with the EU over the controversial judicial reforms.
Nausėda and Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis are scheduled to meet with Duda during their visit to Poland to mark the 610th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald (Žalgiris) later this week.
In a close race, the incumbent Polish president won over Warsaw‘s liberal Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski in Sunday’s run-off presidential election.
Lithuanians in Poland expect Duda to be more pro-European after re-election
Ethnic Lithuanians in Poland's Puńsk expect Duda will be more pro-European after his re-elected.
"[Poland] elected the more conservative candidate, but it's interesting how our newly re-elected president will look at his second term," Vytautas Liškauskas, the head of the administrative district with a large Lithuanian minority, told BNS on Monday.
"It seems to me that he must [...] maintain a more pro-European view" of his challenger Rafał Trzaskowski, he added.
Warsaw's mayor won in Puńsk, a town just five kilometres from the Lithuanian border, by a narrow margin of 200 votes, according to Liškauskas.
Liškauskas said he expected that Duda's re-election would ensure the continuity of good relations between Lithuania and Poland.
"I do hope and know that good relations with Lithuania can be maintained," he said.
Read more: Poles in Lithuania support opposition candidate by large margin
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