On 28 and 29 April 2025, the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, will go on a working trip to Warsaw, where he will participate in the Summit of the Trident Initiative. This regional platform, which brings together thirteen Central and Eastern European countries, will focus on strengthening cooperation in key areas such as energy, transport infrastructure and digital technologies. The summit will also provide a platform for discussion on support for Ukraine and other topical geopolitical issues. Pavel is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Trident Initiative, also known as Trimarium, was founded in 2015 by Polish President Andrzej Duda and Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović with the aim of connecting the countries between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas. Members include the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania and, from 2023, Greece. The initiative focuses on the development of infrastructure in a north-south direction, which should help to compensate for the differences in the region's connectivity compared to Western Europe. In addition to the member states, the summit is regularly attended by partner countries such as Ukraine, which has been granted partner-participant status from 2022, and representatives of the European Union and the United States.
Earlier, at the Troika Summit in Vilnius in April 2024, President Paul stressed the importance of cooperation in energy, transport and the digital economy for the security and resilience of the region. At that time, he also expressed the Czech Republic's readiness to participate in the reconstruction of Ukraine, which is likely to be one of the main topics of the Warsaw Summit.
The Warsaw Summit comes at a time when the region is facing several challenges, including the energy crisis, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and growing tensions with Russia. The Trident Initiative seeks to address these challenges through concrete infrastructure projects such as the Via Carpathia motorway to link Lithuania with Greece or the development of LNG terminals to provide alternative gas sources. Warsaw, as host of the summit, is likely to emphasise energy security, especially given Polish concerns about German energy policy and projects such as Nord Stream 2, which Poland has long criticised.
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