Andrzej Duda made the declaration during an annual meeting with members of various religions and ethnic minorities on Wednesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Duda told those gathered at his presidential palace in Warsaw: “We are indeed living in enormously difficult times. Personally I deeply believe, and seek to help ensure, within my means, that our prayers for peace will indeed bring peace.”
‘A peace that lasts’
He added that "the objective is a peace that lasts, a peace that is stable, one that guarantees the possibility of a peaceful life, hopefully for decades to come and for future generations.”
Accompanied by First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda, the president thanked his guests for attending the annual ceremony.
He said: “We are meeting each other with kindness, with a handshake. This is precisely what creates the strength of our country and our community: the fact that we are looking at each other with kindness, with consideration, that we are seeking ways to achieve understanding, to solve thorny, contested issues, that are part of life.”
“But we are capable of being together,” Duda added.
‘A good omen for the future’
The president went on to say: “Today, I also look with great emotion and satisfaction at how we are working together politically, in our part of Europe ... What a tight-knit community we are at the moment.”
He told the gathering: “Hopefully this is also a good omen for the future ... Suggesting that we will indeed enjoy here a shared sphere of security and good cooperation, as well as terrific economic prosperity, wealth and peaceable life.”
Attending Wednesday’s ceremony were the leaders of Poland’s Catholic Church and the Muslim and Jewish communities, as well as delegates from other religious denominations, including the Pentecostal Church and the Seventh Day Adventist Church, and members of ethnic minorities, according to officials.
The meeting came as Russia’s war against Ukraine entered its 12th month.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, prezydent.pl, tvpparlament.pl