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MARCH 2007 |
Volume II Issue 3 |
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March |
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Ambassador Victor Ashe |
Greetings from Warsaw!
In February, I led a business
outreach mission to the United States to
promote investment in Poland. During stops
in San Jose, St. Louis and Atlanta, I found
great interest in Poland’s fast-developing
economy. More than 300 business people and
company representatives attended our
presentations, which we did jointly with the
American Chamber of Commerce and the Polish
Foreign Investment Agency. |
The trip also emphasized how healthy the
economic aspect of the Polish-American
friendship is. For example, the Polish
Economics Ministry thinks our two-way trade
probably reached $4.5 billion last year, the
highest level ever. U.S. companies continue
to choose Poland as one of their preferred
EU destinations for new investment. They are
attracted by Poland’s central location in
Europe, its highly educated and motivated
labor force, and its growing market. By
unofficial count, U.S. direct investment
here now exceeds $15 billion. U.S. firms
provide employment to more than 120,000
Polish citizens, and that number is rising
daily. U.S. companies are strategic partners
for Polish industry in areas as different as
motor vehicles and components, information
technology, consumer goods, finance, and
high technology.
I’d like
to provide you with an update on missile
defense cooperation with our European
allies. After discussing this topic for some
four years, earlier this year the United
States presented a proposal to Poland and
the Czech Republic for the deployment of
U.S. missile defense interceptors in Poland
and a radar site in the Czech Republic. Poland formally responded on
February 23 expressing its interest in
beginning formal negotiations on the
proposal. While a timetable for negotiations
has not been established, the United States
looks forward to formal discussions with
Poland and the Czech Republic. For more information on this
important topic, I encourage you to visit
the Embassy’s informational web page on this
issue at
http://poland.usembassy.gov/missile.html.
Last month, I met
with Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw
Kaczynski and new Polish Minster of Defense
Aleksander Szczyglo to discuss issues of
mutual interest to the U.S. and Poland. I
also hosted a reception at my Residence for
an international delegation of the Jewish
Claims Conference here to meet with Polish government
officials to press for passage of a law
providing for restitution or compensation
for property taken during World War II.
In March, I will
meet with the new Polish Minister of
Interior Janusz Kaczmarek, host receptions
in honor of the “Know America” contest
participants and International Women’s Day,
and present the Embassy’s first Jan Nowak-Jezioranski
Award for Public Service, in addition to
visiting Krakow.
I recently participated
in an “Ask the Ambassador” video webchat
hosted on the State Department’s website in
which I responded to questions about
democracy in Poland, U.S.-Polish cooperation
on missile defense, the strength of the
Polish economy, and the U.S. Visa Waiver
Program. I have also started my own blog in
which I hope to engage readers in an
informal discussion on my work as the
American Ambassador to Poland. I encourage
you to view the webchat at
www.state.gov and
join my blog at
www.usinfo.pl/blog.
Sincerely yours,
Victor Ashe
U.S. Ambassador to Poland |
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Embassy News |
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Ambassador Ashe Meets with Prime Minister Kaczynski |
| U.S.
Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe met
with Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw
Kaczynski on February 26. The two discussed
issues of mutual interest to the United
States and Poland.
more |
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Ambassador Ashe Participates in Online Webchat |
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U.S.
Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe
recently participated in a U.S.
Department of State “Ask the Ambassador”
video webchat. Ambassador Ashe responded
to questions submitted from people
around the world regarding democracy in
Poland, cooperation on missile defense,
the strength of the Polish economy, and
the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. “Poland
and the United States have been strong
friends for over 230 years,” noted the
Ambassador. More than 150 questions were
received. To view the video webchat, click
here.
more |
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U.S. Officials Brief on Missile Defense |
| U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State for European
and Eurasian Affairs Dan Fried and U.S.
Air Force Lt. General Henry A. Obering,
Director of the U.S. Missile Defense
Agency, briefed and took questions from
members of the press at a U.S. Foreign
Press Center Briefing in Washington,
DC on February 22. The two discussed
U.S. plans for a missile defense system
in Europe. Dan Fried served as U.S.
Ambassador to Poland from 1997 until
2000. For a full transcript of the briefing,
click
here.
more |
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Polish Parliamentarians Participate
in U.S. Funded NATO Tour |
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Five Polish
Parliamentarians participated in a U.S.
funded tour of NATO Headquarters in
Brussels, Belgium February 19-22. The
tour, jointly organized by the U.S.
Embassy in Warsaw and the U.S. Mission
to NATO in Brussels, served as an opportunity
for the Polish Parliamentarians to learn
first-hand about NATO's mission in today's
world. In addition to meeting with officials
at NATO Headquarters, the Parliamentarians
also visited a NATO installation in
Brunssum, the Netherlands. "NATO
is a very important organization. I
am thankful these Parliamentarians were
able to participate in this program,"
noted U.S. Ambassador to Poland Victor
Ashe. The United States and Poland are
NATO member countries.
more |
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Ambassador Ashe Meets With New Polish
Minister of Defense |
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U.S.
Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe,
along with U.S. Embassy Warsaw’s
Defense Attaché Col. Henry Nowak and
Chief of the Office of Defense
Cooperation Col. Stan Prusinski, met
with Poland’s newly-appointed
Minister of Defense, Aleksander
Szczyglo, on February 14. Ambassador
Ashe and Minister Szczyglo discussed
the strong defense cooperation
between the United States and
Poland. “I look forward to working
with Minister Szczyglo on matters of
mutual interest to our two nations,”
noted Ambassador Ashe.
more |
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U.S. and Polish Ambassadors Encourage
More Trade |
| U.S.
Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe and
Poland’s Ambassador to the United States,
Janusz Reiter, visited Atlanta, Georgia
on February 9 where they met with a
group of American business people to
encourage more American companies to
trade and invest in the Polish market.
Ambassador Ashe described Poland as
“an attractive destination for U.S.
investment,” adding that his goal in
leading a Business Outreach Mission
to the United States February 4-9 was
“to make sure that American companies
have the tools they need to succeed
in the Polish market.”
more |
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Jewish Claims Conference Meets Polish Prime Minister and Other Officials |
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An international delegation of the Jewish
Claims Conference met February 28 with
Polish Prime Minister Kaczynski, Sejm
Speaker Marek Jurek, and other officials
to press for passage of a law providing
for restitution or compensation for
property taken during World War II.
The group also honored Righteous Gentile
Irena Sendler, who saved over 2,500
Jewish Children from the Warsaw Ghetto
during from the hands of the Nazis in
1942-1943. U.S. Ambassador to Poland
Victor Ashe hosted the group at a reception
at his Residence on February 27.
more |
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Mrs. Ashe Honors Heroes of Poland’s
Home Army |
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On February 1, Mrs. Joan Ashe represented
U.S. Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe
at the 63rd anniversary memorial celebration
of a Home Army action aimed against
the notorious Franz Kutschera, SS General
and Police Leader of Nazi-occupied Warsaw,
who was responsible for the murders
of hundreds of Polish resistance members
and civilians. Mrs. Ashe, accompanying
the legendary Mrs. Maria “Kama” Stypułkowska-Chojecka,
winner of Poland’s highest order – the
“Virtuti Militari” – laid wreaths at
the location of the Home Army action
and at a nearby spot where hundreds
of Warsaw residents were executed by
the SS. As a young girl during World
War II, “Kama” played an integral role
in the action by serving as a lookout
and warning her colleagues in the resistance
about the approach of Kutschera and
his SS entourage. Mrs. Ashe commented
on the Home Army’s “brilliant and daring
attack” which “delivered a huge blow
to Hitler and to the enemies of freedom.”
more |
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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.
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