US - Poland Business Council Press Statement on Vice President Pence's Trip to Poland
"We are thrilled that Vice President Pence will travel to Poland. Frankly, there is too much at stake for America to not support one of our closest allies anywhere in the world. Vice President Pence has long championed strengthening the bonds of friendship and commerce between the U.S and Poland. We are pleased that he will be making the trip to represent the Trump Administration's views in these important talks with the Polish government to open up new investment opportunities for U.S. companies in Poland, particularly in the growing defense and energy sectors." - Eric Stewart, President of the US - Poland Business Council
ICYMI: Eric Stewart spoke about the importance of the US - Poland relationship at the National Press Club yesterday. Full Video Available Here.
Here are some key quotes from Eric Stewart at the National Press Club forum:
ON THE POLISH ECONOMY:
"This is not your grandmother's Poland. When you think of Poland, you think of manufacturing, you think of old ladies walking around with babushkas. It's dark and it's rainy and it's cold and rub some dirt on it. That's not what it is today. You go to Warsaw and it's amazing the technology that you see. 65% of the Polish economy today is services and tech. The Poles are one of the top creators of cool video games that my 14-year-old kids play. It is a completely different Poland than people have an impression of. What I really see is a tremendous opportunity for more growth."
ON US INVESTMENT IN POLAND:
"If you look at and you add up all the potential new investment opportunities that American companies have, just American companies have, right now in Poland, you're pushing probably 12 to 15 billion dollars of potential opportunities in the energy space, in the defense space, agriculture, IT, etc. You add them all up and it's a big number. It's much more than our trade numbers currently. We really see a tremendous amount of opportunity. That's one of the big reasons that you see President Trump and President Duda having this very strong relationship and continuing to grow that alliance between our two countries."
ON US - POLAND RELATIONSHIP UNDER TRUMP
"President Trump is going to support one of our closest friends. And as I mentioned closest friends and especially if we end up in a post Brexit type environment. The very first question you asked was about the relationship and the economy and I love Dan Fried's quote that Poland was a miracle. It was and it is, but we need to strengthen the economic pillar even greater. It's not where it could be. When you look at the investment numbers, when you look at the trade numbers, United States is still very low, especially on the trade numbers in core eighth we're still behind Russia when it comes to trade with Poland."
ON POLAND JOINING THE U.S. VISA WAIVER PROGRAM
"Does it impact our relationship with Poland? It does. This is very, very important for Poland. And being a part of this visa waiver program is significant and meaningful in our relationship. I mean, you imagine President Duda, I mean I'm, I'm exaggerating here a little bit, but you imagine President Duda when he comes to the White House to meet President Trump and announced that they're buying 30 plus F 35s, he's got to go to the consulate in Warsaw to get a visa to come here. Right? That's not how we treat our closest friends and allies. The Poles have been with us in every theater you can imagine, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they are one of our closest allies. I would, actually, even further argue, that bringing them into the visa waiver program actually requires them to share more data with us than being outside of the program."
"It's actually a benefit to us to have our close allies inside the program. And this goes not just for Poland, but this goes for Romanian, Bulgaria, the other countries that are ... Croatia, that are outside of the visa waiver program. It's unfortunate that we are where we are with this. I mean, these countries should have been included from the beginning. They were not. And it's really ... President Bush committed to fix it. President Obama committed to fix it. President Trump has committed to fix it, and no one has fixed it. I think President Trump is close with Poland, but we still have a number of other allies that need to be added to the program, as well."
Eric Stewart is the President of the US-Poland Business Council and a former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe/Eurasia at the Department of Commerce under President George W. Bush. The Council represents Fortune 500 American Companies who do business in Poland.