Foreign relations of Poland

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The Republic of Poland is a Central European country and member of the European Union and NATO, among others. In recent years, despite its occasional but obstinate relations with Russia during the 20th century, Poland has extended its responsibilities and position in European and Western affairs, supporting and establishing friendly foreign relations with both the West and with numerous European countries.

After regaining independence in 1989, Poland has forged ahead on its economic reintegration with the Western world. Poland also has been an active nation in advocating European integration.

In 1994, Poland became an associate member of the European Union (EU) and its defensive arm, the Western European Union (WEU). In 1996, Poland achieved full OECD membership and submitted preliminary documentation for full EU membership. In 1997, Poland was invited in the first wave of NATO policy enlargement at the July 1997 NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain. In March 1999, Poland became a full member of NATO. Poland promoted its NATO candidacy through energetic participation in the Partnership for Peace (PfP) program and through intensified individual dialogue with NATO. Poland formally joined the European Union in May 2004, along with the other members of the Visegrád group.

Poland was a part of the multinational force in Iraq.

The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the establishment of seven new sovereign states in Poland's immediate neighborhood (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia), of which Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia (through the Kaliningrad Oblast) border Poland. Poland has actively pursued good relations with all its neighboring countries, signing friendship treaties replacing links severed by the collapse of the Warsaw Pact. The Poles have forged special relationships with Lithuania and particularly Ukraine in an effort to firmly anchor these states to the West.

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Wikipedia