Posted on 02/09/2006 11:19:01 AM PST by lizol
Kaczynski on US visit
Poland’s conservative president Lech Kaczyñski is paying a working visit to the United States, his first since taking office in late December. Its program features face to face talks with president George Bush as well as a meeting with US secretary of state Condoleeza Rice.
This visit as an important element of continuation in Polish-American relations. Krzysztof Michalak, a Warsaw University specialist in Polish-American relations explains.
“This is already a tradition that at the beginning of the year, president Bush invites his Polish partner for a working visit to discuss issues of interest to both sides”.
Speaking for Polish Radio upon arrival in Washington President Lech Kaczynski described his message for President George Bush briefly.
“We are a close ally of the United States and we are ready to remain a loyal ally in return for reciprocal loyalty. The US is interested in the situation in NATO and this is where we count on loyalty. It is interested in the situation in the region east of Poland, especially Ukraine and Belarus, and this is an area in which we are interested to cooperate”.
President Kaczynski expects Washington to remember that it has such a faithful ally as Poland in its relations with Russia. Warsaw counts also on military aid from the US.
“It should perhaps pay more attention to Poland’s interests when it comes to restructuring the Polish army.”
Poland will press on with the restructuring anyway, but with US aid this process would be faster. Lech Kaczynski is expected to discuss the possibility of prolonging the deployment of a reduced contingent of Polish troops in Iraq beyond the current withdrawal deadline set for the end of this year.
US visa requirements imposed on Poles remain a sensitive issue in bilateral relations. President Kaczynski sees these requirements as not fair.
“ We want Poles whom Americans denied visas to be spared visa fees, because this is absurd. And later – we expect the visa requirement to be abolished.”
The asymmetrical situation cannot be maintained for ever, president Kaczynski said, suggesting that Poland may impose visa requirements on US citizens if the US fails to abolish similar restrictions for Poles. Krzysztof Michalak believes that President Kaczynski may be more successful in that respect than his predecessor President Aleksander Kwasniewski.
“ It might work. This might convince the American partners that this basic reciprocity approach should be observed”.
Poland was one of the strongest supporters of the US led invasion of Iraq. After the war it received command of a multinational stabilization force in south-central Iraq. But many analysts note that its commitment in Iraq was not matched with important reconstruction contracts for Polish firms or access to Iraqi oilfields.
God Bless Poland and may they always be a staunch ally.
Absoltuely! I saw him on Fox last night (Brit Hume) and I was very impressed.
I hope he comes out to LA; we'll show him a grill full of sausage and a cold keg.
I wonder if the visa restrictions we place on Saudis are as stringent as those we place on Poles?
They'll get what they want...typically there is always a goodie the POTUS will hand out when a foreign head of state makes a state visit.
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