WARSAW - Visiting U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson discussed here Saturday security issues with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, with NATO strengthening and Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline among the main issues raised during the meeting. “Poland is a very strong ally”, said Tillerson during a press conference after the meeting. He also congratulated the country on having already fulfilled a commitment of spending up to 2 percent GDP expenditure on defense.
“Poland and the United States together are against Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which undermines the overall security and energy stability of Europe”, Tillerson said. He expressed hope that the U.S. and Poland could make closer cooperation in the field of energy.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is set to run from the Russian coast along the Baltic Sea bed to the German shore, and is scheduled to be put into operation by the end of 2019. The total capacity of two strings of Nord Stream 2 is 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year. At the press conference, Poland’s Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, who also took part in the meeting, said that “Mr. Tillerson’s visit is for us a confirmation of close ties between Poland and the United States, ... a confirmation of the U.S. interest in the Central and Eastern Europe region”. (Xinhua)