Warsaw Security Forum

Italy and Poland have a deep and long-lasting relationship. Cooperation between the two Republics streches from policy and economy to culture and science. We are proud to announce ITALY as #WSF2021 Guest Country!

2021/09/23

Światowy Dzień Sprzątania Świata w Ambasadzie Kanady w Polsce

Ponad 30 ambasad w Warszawie wzięło 17 września 2021 roku udział w Światowym Sprzątaniu Świata w Polsce i oczyściło plażę Poniatówkę w Warszawie. Oczywiście nie mogło nas tam zabraknąć! Akcja Sprzątania Świata narodziła się w Australii. Po raz pierwszy 40 mieszkańców Sydney zebrało się, aby posprzątać dzielnicę portową w 1989 r. i od tego czasu inicjatywa zaczęła rozwijać się na całym świecie.

2021/09/23

Visited the Library of University of Warsaw

The Ambassador-designate of India to Poland, Ms. Nagma M. Mallick, visited the Library of University of Warsaw. She was received by Dr. Katarzyna Ślaska, Deputy Director and Dr. Joanna Jurewicz, Indologist and Sanskrit scholar. During the tour of the library, Amb. Mallick visited the stone panels at the entrance of the library. The larger-than-life panels have engraved upon them selection from texts of different cultures.

2021/09/23

Participación en la inauguración de la Copa Mundial de Futsal de la FIFA 2021

El domingo 12 de septiembre 2021 en la República de Lituania se llevó a cabo la ceremonia de inauguración de la Copa Mundial de Futsal de la FIFA 2021. En el partido inaugural, nuestra representación La Vinotinto se enfrentó contra Lituania, el equipo anfitrión, y logró vencer 1-2 en un emocionante compromiso.

2021/09/23

Wizyta Ambasadora Belgii w szkole w Gogołowie

Dzień 4 września 2021 roku przejdzie do historii szkoły jako niezwykle ważny. To tego bowiem dnia do Gogołowa przybył ambasador Królestwa Belgii. W sobotnie przedpołudnie w budynku ZS w Gogołowie odbyło się spotkanie pana ambasadora Luc Jakobs’a oraz jego małżonki- pani Anne Blontrock z uczniami i pracownikami szkoły, władzami gminy Frysztak- wójtem p. Janem Ziarnikiem i sekretarzem p. Haliną Kolanko, dyr. ZOEAS-u p. Marcinem Jakubowiczem, radnymi wsi Gogołów i zaproszonymi gośćmi.

2021/09/23

Anniversary of the proclamation of the Kingdom of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia, arid, sparsely populated kingdom of the Middle East. Extending across most of the northern and central Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia is a young country that is heir to a rich history. In its western highlands, along the Red Sea, lies the Hejaz, which is the cradle of Islam and the site of that religion’s holiest cities, Mecca and Medina. In the country’s geographic heartland is a region known as Najd (“Highland”), a vast arid zone that until recent times was populated by nomadic tribes. To the east, along the Persian Gulf, are the country’s abundant oil fields that, since the 1960s, have made Saudi Arabia synonymous with petroleum wealth. Those three elements—religion, tribalism, and untold wealth—have fueled the country’s subsequent history. It was only with the rise of the Saʿūd family (Āl Saʿūd)—a Najdi group for which the country is named—and its eventual consolidation of power in the early 20th century that Saudi Arabia began to take on the characteristics of a modern country. The success of the Saʿūd family was in no small part due to the motivating ideology of Wahhābism, an austere form of Islam that was embraced by early family leaders and that became the state creed. This deep religious conservatism has been accompanied by a ubiquitous tribalism—in which competing family groups vie for resources and status—that often has made Saudi society difficult for outsiders to comprehend. Enormous oil wealth has fueled huge and rapid investment in Saudi Arabia’s infrastructure. Many citizens have benefited from this growth, but it also has supported lavish lifestyles for the scions of the ruling family, and religious conservatives and liberal democrats alike have accused the family of squandering and mishandling the country’s wealth. In addition, civil discontent increased after the Persian Gulf War (1990–91) over the country’s close ties to the West, symbolized notably by the U.S. troops stationed in Saudi Arabia until 2005. In the mid-20th century, most of Saudi Arabia still embraced a traditional lifestyle that had changed little over thousands of years. Since then, the pace of life in Saudi Arabia has accelerated rapidly. The constant flow of pilgrims to Mecca and Medina (vast throngs arrive for the annual hajj, and more pilgrims visit throughout the year for the lesser pilgrimage, the ʿumrah) had always provided the country with outside contacts, but interaction with the outside world has expanded with innovations in transportation, technology, and organization. Saudi Arabia’s growing petroleum wealth has also wrought irreversible domestic changes—educational and social as well as economic. Modern methods of production have been superimposed on a traditional society by the introduction of millions of foreign workers and by the employment of hundreds of thousands of Saudis in nontraditional jobs. In addition, tens of thousands of Saudi students have studied abroad, most in the United States. Television, radio, and the Internet have become common media of communication and education, and highways and airways have replaced traditional means of transportation. Saudi Arabia, once a country of small cities and towns, has become increasingly urban; traditional centres such as Jiddah, Mecca, and Medina have grown into large cities, and the capital, Riyadh, a former oasis town, has grown into a modern metropolis. Most of the region’s traditional nomads, the Bedouin, have been settled in cities or agrarian communities. Land The country occupies about four-fifths of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait to the north; by the Persian Gulf, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman to the east; by a portion of Oman to the southeast; by Yemen to the south and southwest; and by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba to the west. Long-running border disputes were nearly resolved with Yemen (2000) and Qatar (2001); the border with the United Arab Emirates remains undefined. A territory of 2,200 square miles (5,700 square km) along the gulf coast was shared by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as a neutral zone until 1969, when a political boundary was agreed upon. Each of the two countries administers one-half of the territory, but they equally share oil production in the entire area. The controversy over the Saudi-Iraqi Neutral Zone was legally settled in 1981 by partition, yet conflict between the two countries persisted and prevented final demarcation on the ground. Relief The Arabian Peninsula is dominated by a plateau that rises abruptly from the Red Sea and dips gently toward the Persian Gulf. In the north, the western highlands are upward of 5,000 feet (1,500 metres) above sea level, decreasing slightly to 4,000 feet (1,200 metres) in the vicinity of Medina and increasing southeastward to more than 10,000 feet (3,000 metres). Mount Sawdāʾ, which is situated near Abhā in the south, is generally considered the highest point in the country. Estimates of its elevation range from 10,279 to 10,522 feet (3,133 to 3,207 metres). The watershed of the peninsula is only 25 miles (40 km) from the Red Sea in the north and recedes to 80 miles (130 km) near the Yemen border. The coastal plain, known as the Tihāmah, is virtually nonexistent in the north, except for occasional wadi deltas, but it widens slightly toward the south. The imposing escarpment that runs parallel to the Red Sea is somewhat interrupted by a gap northwest of Mecca but becomes more clearly continuous to the south. Toward the interior, the surface gradually descends into the broad plateau area of the Najd, which is covered with lava flows and volcanic debris as well as with occasional sand accumulations; it slopes down from an elevation of about 4,500 feet (1,370 metres) in the west to about 2,500 feet (760 metres) in the east. There the drainage is more clearly dendritic (i.e., branching) and is much more extensive than that flowing toward the Red Sea. To the east, this region is bounded by a series of long, low ridges, with steep slopes on the west and gentle slopes on the east; the area is 750 miles (1,200 km) long and curves eastward from north to south. The most prominent of the ridges are the Ṭuwayq Mountains (Jibāl Ṭuwayq), which rise from the plateau at an elevation of some 2,800 feet (850 metres) above sea level and reach more than 3,500 feet (1,100 metres) southwest of Riyadh, overlooking the plateau’s surface to the west by 800 feet (250 metres) and more.The interior of the Arabian Peninsula contains extensive sand surfaces. Among them is the world’s largest sand area, the Rubʿ al-Khali (“Empty Quarter”), which dominates the southern part of the country and covers more than 250,000 square miles (647,500 square km). It slopes from above 2,600 feet (800 metres) near the border with Yemen northeastward down almost to sea level near the Persian Gulf; individual sand mountains reach elevations of 800 feet (250 metres), especially in the eastern part. A smaller sand area of about 22,000 square miles (57,000 square km), called Al-Nafūd (nafūd designating a sandy area or desert), is in the north-central part of the country. A great arc of sand, Al-Dahnāʾ, almost 900 miles (1,450 km) long but in places only 30 miles (50 km) wide, joins Al-Nafūd with the Rubʿ al-Khali. Eastward, as the plateau surface slopes very gradually down to the gulf, there are numerous salt flats (sabkhahs) and marshes. The gulf coastline is irregular, and the coastal waters are very shallow. Drainage and soils There are virtually no permanent surface streams in the country, but wadis are numerous. Those leading to the Red Sea are short and steep, though one unusually long extension is made by Wadi Al-Ḥamḍ, which rises near Medina and flows inland to the northwest for 100 miles (160 km) before turning westward; those draining eastward are longer and more developed except in Al-Nafūd and the Rubʿ al-Khali. Soils are poorly developed. Large areas are covered with pebbles of varying sizes. Alluvial deposits are found in wadis, basins, and oases. Salt flats are especially common in the east. More: Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Saudi-Arabia    

2021/09/23

Independence Day of the Republic of Mali

Mali, landlocked country of western Africa, mostly in the Saharan and Sahelian regions. Mali is largely flat and arid. The Niger River flows through its interior, functioning as the main trading and transport artery in the country. Sections of the river flood periodically, providing much-needed fertile agricultural soil along its banks as well as creating pasture for livestock. Although Mali is one of the largest countries in Africa, it has a relatively small population, which is largely centred along the Niger River. The Bambara (Bamana) ethnic group and language predominate, with several other groups—including the Fulani (Fulbe), Dogon, and Tuareg—also present in the population. Agriculture is the dominant economic sector in the country, with cotton production, cattle and camel herding, and fishing among the major activities. The area that is now Mali was once part of the three great precolonial Sudanic empires: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. The fabled but now faded trading and learning centre of Timbuktu is situated in Mali on the upper Niger River. For centuries, caravans crossed the Sahara desert from North Africa while others came from the forest regions to the south, meeting at the crossroads of Timbuktu. Other notable towns include Djenné, noted for its famous mosque and other examples of Sudanese architecture, and Mopti, a bustling market centre. The Dogon region, centred on the Bandiagara escarpment in the country’s central area, is an important tourist destination because of its unique cliffside villages and diverse artistic life. The national capital, Bamako, is located on the Niger River and is a rapidly growing city because of increased migration from the depressed rural areas. Relief Mali’s landscape is largely flat and monotonous. Two basic relief features can be distinguished: plateaus and plains, which are crossed by two of Africa’s major river systems, the Niger and the Sénégal. The highland regions are localized and discontinuous. The plateaus of the south and southwest (extensions of the Fouta Djallon highlands of Guinea and the Guinea Highlands of Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire) lie between about 1,000 and 1,600 feet (300 and 500 metres) above sea level but attain heights approaching 2,000 feet (600 metres) in the Mandingue Plateau near Bamako and more than 2,100 feet (640 metres) near Satadougou. The plateaus of the southeast and east, also extensions of the Guinea Highlands, are a series of small, broken hills. Elevations in the southeast range between almost 1,000 feet (300 metres) around Sikasso and 1,740 feet (530 metres) at Mount Mina. East of the Niger River the Dogon Plateau descends gently westward to the river valley but ends in abrupt cliffs on the southeast. These cliffs reach an elevation approaching 3,300 feet (1,000 metres) at Bandiagara. Northwest of the region is the country’s highest point, Mount Hombori Tondo, which rises to a height of 3,789 feet (1,155 metres). Northern and central Mali are made up of the plains of the Niger River basin and of the Sahara. The only marked relief feature in the north is the Iforas Massif. An extension of the mountainous Hoggar region of the Sahara, this heavily eroded sandstone plateau rises to elevations of more than 2,000 feet. Drainage and soils With the exception of some intermittent streams in the northeast, Mali’s drainage system consists entirely of the Sénégal and Niger rivers and their tributaries. The Sénégal system flows in a northwesterly direction across western Mali for about 420 miles (670 km) on its course to the Atlantic Ocean. One of its main headstreams, the Bakoye River, rises in the Fouta Djallon, while another, the Bafing River, rises farther to the east; they join at Bafoulabé to form the Sénégal. The river continues flowing northwest and then west around the Mandingue Plateau, broken along the way by falls at Gouina and Félou, before exiting Mali. The Niger River flows through Mali for slightly more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km), about two-fifths of the river’s total length. It rises in the Fouta Djallon and is of significant size by the time it enters the country near Kangaba. It flows to the northeast across the Mandingue Plateau, its course interrupted by falls and a dam at Sotuba. Reaching Koulikoro, it spreads out in a wide valley and flows majestically to its confluence with the Bani River at Mopti. The Niger then forms an interior delta, because the land is flat and the river’s gradient almost nonexistent. The river breaks down into a network of branches and lakes as it continues northward and, at Kabara, eastward. At Bourem the Niger makes a great turn to the southeast, known as the Niger Bend, and flows past Gao and Ansongo to the Niger border at Labbezanga. The flow of the Niger varies seasonally. High waters occur on the upper Niger from July to October, at the delta from September to November, and at the bend from December to January. Periodic floods and the rich alluvial soils in the central delta make the Niger valley an important agricultural region. The soils outside the Niger valley in Mali are poor. In the south, ferruginous (iron-bearing) soils are shallow and form a hard, red crust because of intense evaporation. The desert region is composed of sand, rock, and gravel. Climate Mali lies within the intertropical zone and has a hot, dry climate, with the sun near its zenith throughout most of the year. In general, there are two distinct seasons, dry and wet. The dry season, which lasts from November to June, is marked by low humidity and high temperatures and is influenced by the alize and harmattan winds. The alize blows from the northeast from November to January and causes a relatively cool spell, with temperatures averaging 77 °F (25 °C). From March to June the harmattan, a dry, hot wind that blows from the east out of the Sahara, sweeps the soil into dusty whirlwinds and is accompanied by daytime temperatures of about 104 to 113 °F (40 to 45 °C). During the rainy season, from June to October, the monsoon wind blows from the southwest. Preceded by large black clouds, the heavy rainstorms often include gusty winds and much lightning and thunder. Temperatures are somewhat lower in August, when most of the rainfall occurs. The country can be divided into three climatic zones—the Sudanic, the Sahelian, and the desert zones. Sudanic climate occurs in about one-third of the country, from the southern border to latitude 15° N. It is characterized by an annual rainfall of 20 to 55 inches (510 to 1,400 mm) and average temperatures of 75 to 86 °F (24 to 30 °C). The Sahel, or the area bordering the Sahara, receives between 8 and 20 inches (200 and 510 mm) of rain per year and has average temperatures between 73 and 97 °F (23 and 36 °C). In the desert (Sahara), temperatures during the day range from 117 to nearly 140 °F (47 to 60 °C), while at night the temperature drops to 39 to 41 °F (4 to 5 °C). Plant and animal life There are two main vegetation zones that correspond to the climatic regions of the Sudan and the Sahel. In the Sudanic zone, localized forest corridors are found along the Guinean border and in the river valleys; the rest of the area is covered with savanna. The trees include the néré, or twoball nitta tree (Parkia biglobosa), the karite (Butyrospermum parkii), the cailcedra (Senegal khaya; Khaya senegalensis), and the kapioka. The incidence of trees decreases to the north as the Sudanic zone merges with the Sahel. The Sahel is characterized by steppe vegetation, notably such drought-resistant trees as the baobab, doum palm, and palmyra. These trees also disappear to the north, where short, thorny plants such as the mimosa, acacia, and cram-cram (Cenchrus biflorus, a member of the grass family) grow; all vegetation is absent in the far-north region of the Sahara. Beginning in the latter half of the 20th century, deforestation, overgrazing, and repeated episodes of drought served to greatly speed the rate of naturally occurring desertification, resulting in the encroachment of the desert on the Sahel. The animal life of the Sudan and of the Sahel is rich and varied. Large herbivorous mammals include gazelles, antelopes, giraffes, and elephants. The main carnivores are lions, panthers, and hyenas. Crocodiles and hippopotamuses inhabit the rivers, and there are a wide variety of monkeys, snakes, and birds (including the ostrich). Boucle du Baoulé National Park along the Baoulé River in the west and the Ansongo-Ménaka Animal Reserve and Douentza (Gourma) Elephant Reserve in the east are major wildlife sanctuaries. People - Ethnic groups The notion of ethnicity is fluid in Mali. In some cases, people marry outside their ethnic group and speak languages that differ from those of their ancestors without changing their cultural affiliation. In other cases, however, identity does change, especially as people move internally and adopt Bambara, the most widely spoken African language in Mali. Nevertheless, several broad categories can be noted. Living in the Sahelian zone and north of the Niger Bend are Imazighen (Berbers, including the Tuareg, a significant subgroup) and the Arab-Spanish-Amazigh (Berber) group known as the Moors, who speak and write Arabic. The rest of the population is composed of numerous agricultural groups, some of whom are descended from the peoples of the ancient empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. The Bambara (Bamana), who live along the upper Niger River, make up the largest group. The Soninke are descended from the founders of the Ghana empire and live in the western Sahelian zone. The Malinke, bearers of the heritage of the Mali empire, live in the southwest, while the Songhai are settled in the Niger valley from Djenné to Ansongo. The Dogon live in the plateau region around Bandiagara, and the Bwa, Bobo, Senufo, and Minianka occupy the east and southeast. The Fulani (Fulbe) were traditionally nomadic pastoralists of the Sahel and the Macina region southwest of Timbuktu. Other ethnic groups of note include the Tukulor, the Khasonke, the Bozo, and the Somono. Although some Tuareg and Fulani are nomadic, the vast majority now live in permanent settlements. More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Mali

2021/09/22

Spotkanie Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z Ambasador Argentyny w Polsce

Minister Przemysław Czarnek spotkał się 15 września 2021 roku z Panią Aną Maríą Ramírez, Ambasador Argentyny w Polsce. Tematem przewodnim spotkania było zacieśnienie współpracy polsko-argentyńskiej w zakresie edukacji i nauki. Strony podkreśliły, że współpraca między naszymi krajami w tej dziedzinie stanowi ważny i rozbudowany element relacji polsko-argentyńskich.

2021/09/21

Ambasador Tomislav Vidošević na otwarciu Tygodnia Chorwackiego w Gdańsku

W czwartek 9 września koncert Tamary Obrovac i Tamary Obrovac Quartet zainaugurował Tydzień Chorwacki w Teatrze Szekspirowskim w Gdańsku. Koncert poprzedziła przemowa dyrektor Teatru, Agaty Grendy - która objęła tę funkcję początkiem września – oraz Ambasador Tomislav Vidošević. Ambasador wspominał również współpracę z przedwczesnie zmarłym założycielem Teatru Szekspirowskiego – Jerzym Limonem i podkreślił wieloletnią wspaniałą współpracę Ministerstwa kultury i Mediów Republiki Chorwacji z Teatrem.

2021/09/21