Ambassador Victor Ashe

Greetings from Warsaw!

Preparations are well under way for President Bush’s visit to Poland on June 8. He will come here after the G-8 meeting in Germany. President and Mrs. Bush will visit President and Mrs. Kaczynski at Poland’s presidential retreat in Jurata for dinner and discussions. The visit, the third of President Bush to Poland during his presidency, will underscore the close friendship and strategic ties between Poland and the U.S. President Bush will welcome President Kaczynski to the White House in July.

The arrival of summer has brought increased Embassy activity. Every afternoon dozens of young Poles come to our doors to receive their special J visa for the Summer Work and Travel Program. Despite being one of the busiest visa issuing posts in the world, Embassy Warsaw remains one of the most efficient in the world, with only a two-day wait for an interview even during the height of this busy season.

Missile defense was high on the Embassy’s activities during May. Formal negotiations on missile defense opened May 24 in Warsaw; the U.S. was led by John Rood, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security. Earlier in the month, our negotiating team headed by Ambassador Robert Loftis, the State Department’s Senior Advisor for Security Negotiations and Agreements, met with Polish representatives to discuss a Status of Forces Implementing Agreement, a key element that would lay the groundwork for basing a European component of a U.S. missile defense system on Polish soil. The next round of missile defense talks will take place in Washington this month.

On the cultural front, American talent in the arts was sponsored by the Embassy. American pianist David Northington of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville played a series of enthusiastically-received solo recitals of Chopin waltzes in Katowice, at my Residence in Warsaw, and at a heavily-attended open-air concert at the Chopin monument in Warsaw’s Lazienki Park. This was the second year that the Embassy brought Dr. Northington to Poland. Steve Berry, the bestselling author of several international suspense thriller novels, visited Krakow and Warsaw for public appearances arranged by the Mission and the U.S. Consulate in Krakow, where he shared insights about a writer’s “inner voice.” Berry’s fourth book, The Templar Legacy, was recently released in Polish.

I spoke at the opening of a major exhibition of American video artist Bill Viola at the Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw on May 11. The U.S. Embassy helped support the exhibit, which runs through July 1. It is the first solo exhibition in Poland of Viola’s work and the only one on this scale in Central and Eastern Europe.

The Embassy actively promotes U.S. business in Poland. I visited Lodz on May 29-30 and highlighted American investment in that region. On May 18, I spoke at an economic conference in Katowice in southern Poland organized by the American Chamber of Commerce and the Mayor’s Office. The previous week I hosted a reception at the Ambassador’s Residence to honor American businesses in Poland. I regularly point out that two-way trade between the United States and Poland reached $4.1 billion last year, the highest level ever, and U.S. firms now provide employment to more than 120,000 Polish citizens -- a number that is rising daily.

Other guests hosted at the Residence in May were the new Archbishop of Warsaw, Kazimierz Nycz; David McCraw, the Vice President and Assistant General Counsel for the New York Times; Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, Ellen Sauerbrey; Ambassador Kosminski and visiting members of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation; and Carl A. Anderson, the Grand Master of the Knights of Columbus.

May also saw a working visit by Florida Congressman Alcee L. Hastings over the Memorial Day weekend. We also marked Memorial Day in an official way with a moving representational event commemorating Armed Forces Day, to which we invited those currently in uniform as well as surviving Polish veterans of World War II and the Resistance. It’s an inspiring experience to meet veterans who embody heroic courage. I always come away marveling at their dedication, courage and perseverance.

Looking ahead, the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, Gen. James T. Conway, will visit in June. Consul General in Krakow, Anne Hall, and I will attend celebrations commemorating the 750th anniversary of the incorporation of the city of Krakow. Before the month concludes, we’ll be turning our attention to the Embassy’s flagship representational events of the year – the receptions marking America’s Independence Day. We will celebrate our nation’s 231st birthday on July 4 with receptions at the Ambassador’s residence in Warsaw, as well as Krakow, Wroclaw and Gdynia. In keeping with the “flagship” nature of the event, the reception in Gdynia will be held aboard the U.S.S. Mahan that will be in port in Gdynia at the end of June.

I wish you all a pleasant summer season!

Sincerely yours,

Victor Ashe
U.S. Ambassador to Poland

Embassy News

U.S. to be “Lead Nation” for Poland’s 2007 International Defense Trade Show in Kielce, Poland; September 3-6, 2007. For more information, click here.