Germany and the Republic of Poland have today (26 March) paved the way for the Agreement on the Demarcation and Maintenance of their Common Border to enter into force and for the establishment of a Permanent German-Polish Border Commission.

Following the exchange of ratification instruments between Susanne Wasum-Rainer, the Federal Foreign Office’s Director-General for Legal Affairs, and Marek Prawda, the Polish Ambassador to Germany, the Agreement signed in Warsaw on 16 September 2004 will enter into force on 25 April 2010.

Its entry into force will further enhance the good-neighbourly relations and cooperation between Germany and Poland.

The Agreement lays down important parameters for defining at any point in time, using geodetic techniques, the precise location of the border along its entire length. It enables the territories of the two neighbouring countries to be clearly demarcated in a way that ensures the public, economic and private interests and rights associated therewith are respected.

It provides inter alia for the demarcation and maintenance of the border on land and in boundary waters and sets out key principles for border demarcation, the protection and physical security of border markers, the tasks of the joint German-Polish Border Commission and periodic checks on border demarcation.

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