Polish parliament committee for foreign affairs approved the candidacy of Jerzy Marek Nowakowski for an ambassador to Armenia.

Nowakowski will replace Zdislaw Raczynski who recently caused a diplomatic scandal, protesting against installing a monument to Armenian-born Soviet statesman Anastas Mikoyan.

The diplomat spoke about priorities of his work in the context of Armenia’s foreign policy preferences. “Armenia, a member of the Eastern Partnership project, announced its accession to the Eurasian Economic Union, which suggests close partnership with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. The move rendered Yerevan’s involvement with the EaP symbolic,” Ostkraft quoted him as assaying.

“Under the circumstances, it’s important to establish “speed limits” for the EaP-involved countries – those who signed the EU Association Agreement (Georgia, Moldavia and Ukraine) and those who didn’t, yet are unwilling to leave the European orbit. “In this case, Poland’s first and foremost political task would be to help preserve the European prospects for Armenia,” the diplomat said, also noting promotion of the Polish- Armenian economic and cultural cooperation among key priorities.

The diplomat further characterized Armenia as a “barometer of Russia’s intentions in the Middle East” and “a country situated at the intersection of interests of the regional powers - Turkey, Iran and Russia.”

According to the diplomat, in the near future, the Warsaw-Yerevan activities should focus on the year 2015 – the Armenian Genocide centenary.

Commenting on the Karabakh settlement, the diplomat stated that closer partnership with the EU, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan’s EaP membership may promote solution of the conflict. The diplomat however, was skeptical over the possibility of a rapid settlement.