Transcript of Assistant Secretary Daniel Fried's Remarks (16 January 2008)

Mr. Fried: Panie ministrze, szanowni panstwo.  Please forgive me if I speak English at this.  It's a pleasure to be back in Poland and to have had a good discussion with minister Sikorski, an old friend.  We had a good and constructive discussion, covered several topics.  I expressed the thanks of the U.S. government for Poland's most recent offer to increase its forces in Afghanistan.  This is not the first but the second significant increase in Polish forces.  The Polish forces are doing a good job.  The polish military is serious.  And we think that it's an important mission.  We're very grateful for Poland's latest offer.  We discussed Iraq, and of course we very much respect the Polish government's decision to end its mission on…by the 31st of October.  We respect that deadline and I believe that our common efforts in Iraq have created the conditions for great progress in the future.  And things there are obviously much better than they were six months ago.  We also discussed missile defense, and discussed the way forward.  We've had a good discussion, a constructive one.  We spent some time talking about the way to make this work.  There is much work to be done, and we take Polish considerations very much into account.  The Poles have made a sound case that missile defense may expose them to additional risks that have to be addressed.  We understand this.  We respect this.  And I look forward to working with our Polish allies on a way forward in this direction.  I'm glad to be back in Poland and I look forward later to your questions.

Mr. Fried added the following in response to a question directed to Minister Sikorski regarding his term that “progress” had been made on missile defense talks.

Mr. Fried:   I completely agree with what Minister Sikorski said about the need to avoid over-interpretation of every remark.  That's a wonderful sport but not a particularly useful one.  Defense Minister Klich's discussions in Washington were good.  They paved the way for the positive frame of mind that Minister Sikorski and I have expressed.  I'm not going to get into the subject.  Minister Sikorski's absolutely right that these are both complicated and delicate but I think we are poised to make progress.  Both sides have work to do.  I will speak for the American side.  We have our work to do as well.  With respect to Polish-American military cooperation generally: we have been allies in wars now, in Iraq under difficult circumstances, which were longer and more costly than any of us anticipated in 2003, which are bearing fruits now and in the last six months in Afghanistan.  Poland has been an increasingly important ally, offering combat forces without caveats to support the NATO mission.

In response to a question regarding Polish Prime Minister Tusk’s plans to visit Washington, and the new Polish Government’s relations with other European countries, including Russia:

Mr. Fried:  If I understand the question right, first of all we look forward, I look forward, to a visit to Washington by the Prime Minister (Tusk) which will happen in due course.  We understand also that Polish-Russian relations are developing and we hope that they're good.  There's nothing to be gained by anything but cooperation in Europe and I think that whatever the differences between Poland and Russia that everyone gains if relations on are on a more normal basis.  I think that answers it.

In response to a question about the possibility of Poland becoming part of the Visa Waiver Program (meaning visa-free travel to the US for Polish tourists):

Mr. Fried:  This question has been a staple of Polish-American discussions for some time and in fact you know of President Bush's proposal to open up the Visa Waiver Program to many countries in Europe.  We want to see that process move as fast as possible.  I look forward to the day when Poland and its neighbors come into the Visa Waiver Program.  That day can't happen too fast for me.  The faster the better as far as we're concerned.  And I will add that the American initiative, the President's initiative, announced last year, very much took into account Polish concerns.  We were listening to our Polish friends and we made a change in our visa policy in response to it.  We want to see that change implemented as quickly as possible.