Polish Ambassador Zbigniew Gniatkowski has placed his diplomatic credentials in the hands of Kiribati president Taneti Maamau. “It is an honour and a privilege to be the first Polish ambassador” in Kiribati – Gniatkowski says.
Ambassador Gniatkowski and President Maamau
In 2015, Poland established diplomatic relations with three Pacific countries: Nauru, Kiribati and Micronesia. As stated by the Polish authorities at the time, it was part of a larger strategy to strengthen cooperation with smaller and vulnerable countries in the United Nations within the UN framework.
During an official visit to Tuvalu, ambassador Zbigniew Gniatkowski deposited his credentials with the President of Kiribati Taneti Maamau, thus launching the first diplomatic mission of Poland in Kiribati.
At the beginning of February, Gniatkowski also handed over his diplomatic credentials to the Governor General of Tuvalu Sir Iakob Taeia Italeli.
Kiribati is an archipelago of 811 square kilometers inhabited by more than 100,000 people.
On one of the islands – Kiritimati – there is a place called Poland. It is adjacent to three others – Paris, London and Banana. It is said that the town of Poland was founded there in honour of a Polish engineer – a Stanisław, whose last name the inhabitants did not remember. Probably at the beginning of the twentieth century he arrived on the island on a ship which crew helped the local population solve the problem of fields irrigation.
Maybe Ambassador Gniatkowski will also be honoured in such a nice way.
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