Senior U.S. Officials Meet with Polish Leadership, Attend Poland’ Celebration of 10th Anniversary of NATO Membership

March 10, 2009

As Poland commemorates the tenth anniversary of its accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), senior U.S. officials attend meetings and events in Warsaw in celebration of Poland’s 10-year membership in the world's most durable and effective defense alliance.  Former U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, arrived in Warsaw on Tuesday, March 10 and will meet with President Lech Kaczyński, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski, other government officials and diplomats.  During her visit, Professor Albright will also join a 10th Anniversary of NATO Celebration hosted by Minister Sikorski with the Hungarian and Czech Ambassadors in attendance.  Later this week, U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Kurt Volker, will attend a conference panel: “NATO –Challenges and Tasks Ahead,” part of the Warsaw Transatlantic Forum 2009. The activities serve as a reminder that Poland has become one of the strongest proponents of defense cooperation with the U.S. and other NATO Allies.  Poles have demonstrated time and again – in the Balkans, as part of the NATO Training Mission in Iraq, and by their current presence in Afghanistan – that they are active and eager contributors to our common security. 

On March 12, President Lech Kaczynski will preside over a solemn ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, followed by a lunch with NATO Ambassadors at the Presidential Palace.  The Warsaw Transatlantic Forum, an umbrella group of Polish and U.S. non-governmental organizations, will sponsor a series of events on March 12, including a NATO Village near the University of Warsaw campus, featuring individual tents manned by uniformed members of each of the 26 NATO Allies.  The all-day “NATO – Challenges and Tasks Ahead”  conference on Friday, March 13, sponsored by  the Center for International Relations and the Ministry of Defense, features the participation of NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer, as well as the Polish Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Defense Minister. 

Earlier this month, on March 2, 2009, New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Ohio Senator George Voinovich submitted a resolution to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Hungary, and the Republic of Poland as members of NATO.  According to the Resolution, the three member countries “have been integral to the NATO mission of promoting a Europe that is whole, undivided, free, and at peace” and their membership has “strengthened the ability of NATO to perform a full range of missions throughout the world.”  Please follow this link for the full text of the Resolution. 

It was March 12, 1999 when Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic signed the documents required for NATO membership in Independence, Missouri.  Four days later, the flags of all three countries were raised for the first time at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. Representatives of the governments of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland will be in attendance as NATO celebrates its 60th anniversary at a summit to be held on April 4, 2009, in Germany and France.