Polish President Andrzej Duda will devote the first half of this year to efforts to build a consensus in NATO on increasing the alliance’s presence in Central Europe, a senior aide has said.

Warsaw is to host a NATO summit in July. Beefing up the military alliance’s presence in the region is a key goal for Poland, which considers Russia, its giant neighbour to the east, a major potential threat to its security.

Duda, who was elected in May’s presidential elections, will launch a string of visits to NATO member countries with a 18 January trip to the military alliance's headquarters in Brussels.

Krzysztof Szczerski, responsible for foreign affairs in the president’s office, said that while in Brussels Duda would also meet the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister. The two would discuss the migration crisis and energy policy.

Duda will then head off to Norway, Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic and Hungary, and to a Nuclear Security Summit, which takes place in the United States March 31-April 1.

Szczerski said that in the first half of the year Duda would deliver three important speeches: in February at a security conference in Munich, in March at a meeting with US think-tanks in Washington, and in May at the NATO Defence College in Rome.

Szczerski added that in the second half of the year the president would focus on promoting Polish economic interests internationally.

The NATO summit slated for July in the Polish capital is a priority of the Polish Defence Ministry, its head, Antoni Macierewicz, said Monday. (pk)