Podkarpackie Trip – Day Two

8 February 2012

Ambassador Feinstein and Consul General Greenberg visited WSK/Pratt and Whitney in Rzeszów.

Ambassador Feinstein and Consul General Greenberg meet with students at the Higher School for Law and Administration in Rzeszów.

On Tuesday morning, Ambassador Feinstein toured the WSK PZL-Rzeszow / Pratt & Whitney engine plant in Rzeszow. The plant, owned by United Technologies Corporation (UTC), employs 3900 people and is a cornerstone of the “Aviation Valley” in Podkarpackie. It produces components for a variety of aircraft engines, including the F-16 and F-35 fighter aircraft.

After the plant visit, he spoke to students at the Higher School for Law and Administration on the topic: “The Next Generation of Partnership: The United States, Poland and the Transatlantic Relationship”. He then toured the Rzeszow Underground Museum, which is comprised of old cellars and tunnels located in underneath Rzeszow’s old town.

Ambassador Feinstein then met with librarians from the region who are participating in the Library Development Program, a program sponsored by the Information Society Development Foundation (FRSI - Fundacja Rozwoju Społeczeństwa Informacyjnego). The program is supported by the Polish American Freedom Foundation with a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  Ambassador Feinstein said that the Gates Foundation donation is similar to the donations made by Andrew Carnegie to build libraries in America at the start of the 20th century.

Participants told him that as important as the computer equipment was for the library, the training and networking that the program brought to them was just as valuable for staff development. The librarians also highlighted that the grant competition encouraged local government to more greatly value the work of libraries in communities, and thus contribute more resources. In fact, the most valuable outcome of the program is a new confidence among librarians and an increased awareness of the role of libraries in social life in the 21st century.

Ambassador Feinstein met with Rzeszow Bishop Kazimierz Gorny as well as Rzeszow mayor Tadeusz Ferenc.  The Ambassador concluded his visit to Podkarpackie with a tour of the construction site for the American company Goodrich Aerospace, where landing gear components for commercial aircraft like the Boeing 737 will be produced, followed by a tour of Rzeszow Airport’s new passenger terminal scheduled to open within the next few months.