§ Mr. MackinlayTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on his discussions with Poland's Minister of Defence. [30558]
§ Mr. George RobertsonI was delighted to be able to welcome my colleague Dr. Janusz Onyszkiewicz to the UK during his visit of 10 to 12 February. I am pleased to say that we enjoyed a frank and open discussion, which touched on a wide range of issues of mutual interest.
Naturally, wetook the opportunity to exchange views on the crisis in Iraq. Dr. Onyszkiewicz agreed that, while the highest priority must be to find a diplomatic solution, neither the British nor the Polish Government would shrink from the task should it become necessary in the last resort to consider the military option. In that event, Dr. Onyszkiewicz declared Poland's readiness to make a military contribution and that they would be prepared to deploy a team of chemical defence specialists to the region.
Regarding NATO enlargement, we exchanged views on Poland's preparation's for membership of the Alliance and the future role she might play once she is a member. Britain has been a strong supporter of Poland's NATO candidature and our bilateral defence relationship is excellent. I took the opportunity to reinforce our desire to help Poland integrate into the Alliance as smoothly as possible and to explore new avenues for cooperation between the armed forces of Britain and Poland.
We spoke also of the rapidly evolving trilateral UK/Poland/Ukraine defence relationship, which continues to gain momentum. Following the great success of last year's airborne exercise "Cossack Steppe" in the Ukraine, involving British, Polish and Ukrainian forces, we hope to repeat the exercise this year in the UK during May. During our talks, I suggested to Dr. Onyszkiewicz that he visit me again during May so that we might view the exercise together with our colleague General Olexsandr Kuzmuk, the Ukrainian Defence Minister.