embassy events 2009

Senior U.S. Officials Meet with Polish Leadership, Attend Poland’s Celebration of 10th Anniversary of NATO Membership

10 March 2009

(l-r) U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Victor Ashe, Deputy Chief of Mission, Pamela Quanrud, Jan Sechter, Czech Republic's Ambassador to Poland, former Secretary Albright, Jerzy Kozminski, former Ambassador of Poland to the U.S., Robert Kiss, Hungary's Ambassador to Poland, and Aleksander Kwasniewski, former President of Poland.

This week, as Poland commemorates the tenth anniversary of its accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), senior U.S. officials attend meetings and events in Warsaw in celebration of Poland’s 10-year membership in the world's most durable and effective defense alliance.  Former U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, arrived in Warsaw on Tuesday, March 10 and met with President Lech Kaczyński, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski, and other government officials and diplomats.  During her visit, former Secretary Albright also joined a 10th Anniversary of NATO Celebration hosted by Minister Sikorski with the Hungarian and Czech Ambassadors in attendance and a luncheon in her honor hosted by the U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Victor Ashe, on March 11 at his Warsaw residence, where she gave interviews to the leading Polish media.  On Friday, March 13, U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Kurt Volker, participates in a conference panel: “NATO –Challenges and Tasks Ahead,” part of the Warsaw Transatlantic Forum 2009.

The all-day “NATO – Challenges and Tasks Ahead”  conference sponsored by the Center for International Relations and the Ministry of Defense, features the participation of NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer, as well as the Polish Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Defense Minister. 

Poland has become one of the strongest proponents of defense cooperation with the U.S. and other NATO Allies.  Poles have demonstrated time and again – in the Balkans, as part of the NATO Training Mission in Iraq, and by their current presence in Afghanistan – that they are active and eager contributors to our common security.

On Thursday, March 12, President Lech Kaczynski presided over a solemn ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, followed by a lunch with NATO Ambassadors at the Presidential Palace.  The Warsaw Transatlantic Forum, an umbrella group of Polish and U.S. non-governmental organizations, sponsored a series of events on March 12, including a NATO Village near the University of Warsaw campus, featuring individual tents manned by uniformed members of each of the 26 NATO Allies. [photo gallery]

 

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Speaks at Warsaw Conference on Poland’s 10th Anniversary in NATO

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