On May 30 at the Klub Bankowca in Warsaw, the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw and the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs co-hosted a symposium on “The Centennial of Polish-American Diplomatic Relations.” The German Marshall Fund also helped with arrangements. The symposium was one of three major events organized by the U.S. Embassy to highlight US-Polish relations and celebrate the re-establishment of a democratic Poland 30 years ago. The U.S. Embassy held the successful kickoff event at the Bristol Hotel on January 30 and will continue to participate in events in Gdansk on June 2-3. Poland’s Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz and Ambassador Georgette Mosbacher gave welcoming remarks at the symposium which were followed by two panel discussions on the “New Century of Polish-American Diplomatic Ties” and “Poland 1989 – The Center of the World.” The moderator of the first panel was Dr. Anna Mazurkiewicz and its panelists included former U.S. Ambassadors to Poland Stephen Mull and Daniel Fried, as well as former Polish Ambassador Bogusław Winid and Professor Jakub Tyszkiewicz. Former ABC journalist Dr. Alma Kadragic moderated the second panel and its panelists included former Polish Ambassador to the United States Jerzy Kozmiński, former U.S. Ambassador to Poland Thomas Simons, and Professors Thaddeus Kontek and Wojciech Roszkowski. Following the panels, Poland’s current ambassador to the United States Piotr Wilczek spoke on the topic of “Poland and America – One Hundred Years of Solidarity and Success with More to Come.” During her welcoming remarks, Ambassador Mosbacher reiterated what President Trump said in Warsaw in 2017, that “The United States has never given up freedom and independence as the right and destiny of the Polish nation, and we never will” stressing that “Today Poland is one of America’s most important allies, a valued member of NATO, and a proud member of the European Union.”
