SECRETARY POMPEO: Great, thank you.
I’m really happy to be here in Poland.
Foreign Minister, thank you for hosting me.
I’m happy to be here both for the Ministerial to Promote a Future of Peace and Security
in the Middle East, which we are co-hosting with our Polish friends, but just as importantly,
to be here for bilateral discussions that we just had.
A hundred years ago, we began our relationship, our diplomatic ties, and this makes my first
visit here as the Secretary of State.
Thirty years after the Iron Curtain came down, today Poland is one of the United States’s
best friends on the European continent and we thank you and your president for that.
Our defense and security relationship, as the foreign minister said, is excellent.
It’s clear from our joint commitment to host the historic ministerial with over 60
nations here in Warsaw.
Tomorrow, I’ll get a chance to visit American troops who served side-by-side with Poland’s
warriors, along with soldiers from other NATO countries.
That display of NATO strength and unity tells the world our alliance is prepared to surmount
any challenge from any aggressor to meet the security challenges we face and in support
of our values.
Of course, our alliance cannot be at full strength without robust contributions from
all allies.
President Trump is grateful for Poland’s leadership in contributing its fair share
to our common defense.
Poland is already meeting its Wales pledge commitments and has committed to doing more.
Its military modernization program is strengthening Poland’s defense capabilities.
Poland’s choice is one made out of enthusiasm, not compulsion.
The Polish people know the importance of strong deterrents and America is grateful for that.
Our thankfulness also extends to Poland’s commitment of troops to the NATO mission in
Afghanistan.
The energy relationship between our two countries is also growing, with Poland taking major
steps to import American petroleum and natural gas, and Poland has vigorously pursued a course
to reduce its dependent on Russian natural gas, which Moscow continues to use for – as
a political weapon for its geostrategic purposes.
We continue to work with Poland and other likeminded European allies and partners to
stop Russia’s proposed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would undermine European energy and
national security while also hurting Ukraine.
Our economic relationship, too, is growing.
U.S. firms remain very interested in Poland, and we have a tireless advocate for U.S. investment
in our Ambassador Georgette Mosbacher.
Poland’s dynamic economy, which has sustained positive growth for 27 straight years and
reached 5.1 percent of GDP growth in 2018, meshes incredibly well with America’s innovative
economy.
U.S.-Polish people-to-people ties are also robust.
We look forward to the day, hopefully soon, when Poland will be able to join the U.S.
Visa Waiver Program.
We are both working diligently towards that goal.
We also appreciate the importance of resolving outstanding issues of the past, and I urge
my Polish colleagues to move forward with comprehensive private property restitution
legislation for those who lost property during the Holocaust era.
Lastly, I want everyone to know that America will never forget the indomitable Polish spirit.
Recently an American, an American named Frank Blaichman, passed away at the age of 96.
He may be better known here by his birth name Franek Blajchman.
Frank was one of the valiant Jewish partisans in Poland who risked life itself to resist
the Nazi war machine.
After the war, he became an American citizen, built a very prosperous life as a real estate
development in New York.
Frank’s life was a testament to the resilience of the Polish people and to the American ideal
that anyone who dreams big can rise to the top of matter – no matter where you start
from.
He embodied what President Trump said in his visit here in 2017.
Poland lives, Poland prospers, and Poland prevails.
In many different eras, the Polish people have fought for independence and liberty.
Today, I urge Poland to stay the course, the course of freedom and democracy that was hard-won
during both the 1980s and 1990s.
I appreciate the opportunity to meet with you, Mr. Foreign Minister, and I look forward
to seeing our close collaboration continue at the ministerial tomorrow.
Thank you.