Duda hopes that the standard of living in 3Seas member countries will exceed Western European

In his speech at the opening of the Three Seas Local Government Congress, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that the main focus of the event would be to develop ideas aimed at improving the standard of living of the people of the Three Seas Initiative countries.

TVP World reports.

"I hope that in the near future at least most of our countries will overtake the vast majority of Western European economies and the standard of living will exceed what we see today in Western Europe," the President stressed.

Duda stressed that "over the past three decades, the economic growth of the countries of our region has been 1.5 percent higher than that of the largest economy of the European Union, Germany."

"In 2004, the Three Seas Initiative countries generated only 15.2% of the European Union's GDP, whereas in 2018 it was more than 19.1% of the GDP of our European community," he said, adding that "Poland remains the leader in economic growth", with an average growth rate of over 5%.

"The Three Seas Initiative is an extremely valuable forum that increases the importance of its participants in the European Union," said Elżbieta Witek, Speaker of the lower house of the Polish Parliament.

She stressed that many interesting initiatives are being implemented within the framework of the Three Seas, including at the local, regional and national levels.

Witek called on the countries of the Three Seas to "speak with one voice" at international forums on the most important issues for them.

The 3Seas Local Government Congress was also attended by Minister of Defence Mariusz Blaszczak, Minister of Education Przemysław Czarniek, Plenipotentiary Representative of the Polish Government on the Three Seas Initiative Pawel Jablonski and other government officials from Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and other participants in the initiative.

As a reminder, the Three Seas Initiative (3SI or TSI), also known as the Baltic, Adriatic, Black Sea (BABS) Initiative or simply as the Three Seas, is a forum of twelve states, in the European Union and Ukraine as a partner (from 2022) located in Central and Eastern Europe. The territory of the participating countries has access to the Adriatic Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. The aim of the organisation is to establish a regional dialogue on various issues affecting member states