Ambassador
Victor Ashe

Greetings from Warsaw!

We’re looking forward to the end of an admittedly mild, but extremely productive winter here in Poland. On March 10, I’ll be in Washington, DC when Prime Minister Tusk meets with President Bush. This will be Mr. Tusk’s first visit to the United States as Prime Minister, and we look forward to a productive meeting.

Just last week I presented a commemorative reproduction of President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points to Foreign Minister Sikorski. 2008 marks the 90th anniversary of Wilson’s historic speech, in which he specified that an independent Polish state be reestablished after World War I.  It was an American President, who before World War I even ended, advocated a free and independent Poland. 

I led a delegation last month of business leaders from Polish public and private sector organizations to Portland, Oregon, Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio and Boston, Massachusetts, in an effort to promote the Polish market to American companies and investors.  The trip is an annual event; this year we reached over 350 U.S. business people.

February was African-American History Month, and the Embassy assisted Warsaw’s Foundation Diversity Forum in presenting DIVERSE & TOGETHER, the major Black International Cinema Festival held annually in Berlin, Germany.  This was the first time that films from the festival were shown in Poland.

Talks on placing 10 ground-based missile interceptors in Poland continued during the month.  In addition to official bilateral discussions, we brought expert Baker Spring of the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC to Warsaw and Lublin to speak to audiences about security policy in the context of missile defense.  Mr. Spring also met with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw and gave presentations to audiences at the Military University of Technology in Warsaw, the Catholic University of Lublin, and the Polish Air Force Academy in Lublin.

Mid-month the 2008/2009 Norman E. Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellows Program for Poland was announced, through which we will offer to two selected Polish candidates a short-term scientific training and collaborative research fellowship at a U.S. land-grant university, government research facility, or other nonprofit institution or private company in the United States.  The program has been a huge success in the past and is another example of our productive scientific and cultural exchange.  Applications for the program are being accepted by our Foreign Agricultural Service Office through April 16; please see the Embassy News item below for additional information.

Also in February, the Polish American Congress presented to Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski their first annual Medal of Freedom, in recognition of her extraordinary achievements and dedication to the betterment of the Polish American community and relations with Poland.

On February 13, Mary Curtin, formerly the Political Counselor at the Embassy, took responsibility as Deputy Chief of Mission.  Ms. Curtin joined the Embassy in Warsaw in August 2004 as Political Counselor and has done a great job since that time.  She has hit the ground running in her new position.

As always, thank you for your thoughtful comments and suggestions on this newsletter.  I will always respond to you if you send me a message at AsheVH@state.gov.  I personally read and answer them myself.

Sincerely Yours,

Victor Ashe

Embassy News