FM hopes for Trump declaration on US troops in Poland

Trump is set to visit Warsaw on 5-6 July to hold talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda and speak to 12 Central European, Baltic, and Western Balkan leaders at a Three Seas Conference.

The Three Seas initiative aims to boost cooperation among countries between the Black, Baltic and Adriatic Seas.

Poland hopes Trump will “address the issue of a lasting US army presence in Poland, as well as talks on the future of the American military base in Redzikowo [northern Poland], which should be operational next year,” Waszczykowski told Poland’s PAP news agency.

On Thursday, eight NATO member countries, including Poland, signed a joint declaration to deter and respond to military threats on the Eastern flank of the North Atlantic Alliance.

The declaration – signed in Brussels by the US, Canada, Germany, the UK, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland – confirms the readiness of the four NATO combat groups that are stationed in Poland and the Baltic States.

According to Waszczykowski, a declaration on Poland’s energy independence could also be issued during Trump’s visit.

“We are discussing the idea,” the minister said, adding that “it will be more of a political declaration and less a legally binding one, but it is enough to set the goals of this cooperation” in the energy sector.

Earlier this month, Poland received its first ever consignment of American liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the northeastern Świnoujście sea terminal.

At a Warsaw summit last July, NATO members agreed to strengthen the alliance’s eastern flank, including Poland, amid fears of potential Russian aggression following Moscow's annexation of the Crimea peninsula in Ukraine in 2014.

Four NATO multinational battalions have been deployed to Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

(tf/pk)