Ambassador Victor Ashe

Happy 2009!

Throughout the coming year, the United States and Poland will celebrate the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two countries, which we plan to kick off in Warsaw on January 12, when Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and I hold a ceremony to mark the occasion. As part of the celebration, we will be unveiling a jointly-produced book on the history of US-Polish relations, and will also be announcing a documentary competition co-sponsored by the Embassy and Polish Public Television (Telewizja Polska). The events of the 12th are only an initial taste of what will be a year of special events, ranging from concerts and exhibits to conferences and speaker programs – and much more.

Later in the month, on January 22-23, the US Embassy, Polish government, and Polish-US Fulbright Commission will hold two days of events to launch the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Fulbright Program in Poland, one of the great legacies of our diplomatic relations. Fulbright in Poland began in 1958, when relations between the Soviet-dominated Communist government in Poland and the US Government were at a low point. The program enters its second half century with greater strength than ever – a new bilateral agreement reached last year has now gone into effect and will see an incrementally increased Polish financial contribution until in four years it matches the US contribution. The doubling of the budget will allow for a great number of more robust scholarly exchanges between the US and Poland in the future. Mrs. Fulbright will be here for the celebration.

January will of course see another important milestone that occurs in the United States every four years: the inauguration of our President. Barack Obama will take the Oath of Office on January 20. The Embassy will mark this occasion with a reception at my Residence and a special public event featuring American-Polish singing artist Isis Gee. The start of a new Administration also means other changes, including the departure of some Ambassadors appointed by the outgoing President. Therefore, after nearly four-and-a-half years as US Ambassador to Poland, I will be heading back to the United States and Tennessee, filled with wonderful memories of Poland and its exceptional people.

This December has had as much to make it memorable as any that have come before it. In truth, the traditional slow period that accompanies the holidays was a little late in arriving this year. This year in December, Poland hosted a major UN climate change conference in Poznan; the Embassy had visits from senior US government, military officials, and members of Congress; US and Polish special forces conducted an impressive joint exercise including parachute jumps; and the last three of Poland’s purchase of 48 F16s arrived in the country.

The UN Climate Change Conference (COP14) held in Poznan December 1-13 dominated the work of many sections of the Embassy during the first two weeks of the month. About 100 US Government officials took part in a delegation led by Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky and Jim Connaughton, Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Also present was a Congressional Delegation of about 50. Senator John Kerry, incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Wisconsin Congressman James Sensenbrenner were here and active. Former Vice-President Al Gore attended the conference and received an honorary doctorate from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. The conference succeeded in keeping forward momentum toward the COP15 conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, which is intended to result in a new agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

December saw the on-time arrival in Poland of the last three F16s Poland purchased from US-based Lockheed Martin. The planes were flown to Poland by three American pilots who were welcomed at the Polish Krzesiny airbase by a delegation from the Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation. Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich marked the occasion with a visit to the base on the following day. As an encore of US-Polish military cooperation, EUCOMM and the Polish military held successful joint exercises by Special Forces units at the nearby Powidz airbase December 15-17.

Also that week, we hosted three high level visits in one day on December 16. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Rood met with Polish officials as part of ongoing talks about implementing the Missile Defense Agreement between Poland and the United States and to consult on his just completed meetings with the Russian government. He was quickly followed by a congressional delegation led by Ellen Tauscher, Chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, who also held Missile Defense discussions with senior Polish officials. The delegation included Representatives Loretta Sanchez, Rick Larsen, and Doug Lamborn. A second congressional delegation, led by Allyson Schwartz of the House Democracy Assistance Commission (HDAC), also visited Warsaw on December 16 for meetings with Polish security officials and members of the Sejm Foreign Affairs Committee. The delegation also included Representatives David Dreier, Adam Schiff, Donald Payne and Bill Shuster.

The Embassy also marked Human Rights Day and highlighted international efforts to end gender-based violence with our campaign “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence,” which featured a different Pole each day for 16 days who has led in this important struggle. In honor of these two important events, the Deputy Chief of Mission of U.S. Embassy Warsaw, Pam Quanrud, hosted a lunch which included the participation of many of the individuals and institutions profiled during the 16-day campaign.

Earlier in the month, on December 4, I visited the Krakow region to attend the International Session Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the UN Human Rights Declaration, organized in Oświęcim by the Polish Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection Dr. Janusz Kochanowski. There, I accepted the Paweł Włodkowic Award on behalf of United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Later that day, I visited the headquarters of the Second Mechanized Corps in Krakow, where I presented the Legion of Merit medal to Major General Edward Gruszka, Commander of the Corps.

I have now spent my first Christmas in Poland, with our children joining Joan and me here rather than us all celebrating the holidays in Tennessee. We were delighted to finally see firsthand the Polish traditions I had previously heard so much about. Rested and rejuvenated, we are now ready for the start of a new year in 2009, celebrating not only the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 50th of Fulbright, but also the 60th of NATO (and 10th of Poland’s accession to NATO), the 90th of Poland’s re-emergence as an independent country at the end of World War I, and the 20th of Poland’s freedom from Communist rule.

I wish you all a wonderful 2009!

Sincerely yours,

Victor Ashe

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