Remarks by President Trump and President Duda of the Republic of Poland in Joint Press Conference | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    East Room  •  September 18, 2018  •  2:31 P.M. EDT

    PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much. Please, sit down. Today, I'm very honored to host the President of Poland, a friend of mine, President Duda, and Mrs. Duda. Thank you very much for being here. Great honor.

    It's lovely to have you at the White House. We spent some time in the Oval Office, and we accomplished a lot. Melania and I are deeply grateful for the incredible welcome the President and Mrs. Duda gave us in Warsaw, Poland last year. It was a very exceptional day. Extraordinary. It's wonderful to have them both with us in Washington today. Thank you very much, Mr. President.

    During my visit last summer, I had the privilege to stand before the monument to the Warsaw Uprising and address the people of Poland about our shared commitment to defending our heritage and our civilization. It was an experience I will always treasure and I will never, ever forget.

    Not far from where we stand today, another monument in another square - the statue of General Kosciuszko in Lafayette Park - reminds us that the bonds between our people go all the way back to America's Revolutionary War.

    This year, the United States and Poland are celebrating 100 years of Poland regaining its independence and nearly 100 years of U.S.-Polish diplomatic ties. It's a long time. I'm thrilled to say that the alliance between our nations has never been stronger with you and I at the helm. Do you agree with that?

    PRESIDENT DUDA: Yeah.

    PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm glad he said yes. (Laughter.)

    In our discussions this afternoon, President Duda and I agreed to bolster our robust defense ties. We will enhance cooperation in military relations, intelligence, missile defense, technology and training.

    I'm proud to report that Poland has recently purchased a state-of-the-art Patriot missile system - which is a great system. We make the greatest military equipment by far, anywhere in the world. And it's made right here in the USA.

    We are grateful for Poland's leadership on defense spending and burden sharing in NATO. I want to commend Poland for meeting its NATO defense-spending obligations, and I am glad that it plans to increase spending beyond the 2 percent minimum obligation. Thank you very much for that.

    I'd like to share my gratitude to the people of Poland for their contributions to NATO's Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan and the coalition to defeat ISIS. We've made tremendous progress with respect to the defeat of ISIS, as you've seen.

    We also understand that you can't have national security without border security. Both Poland and the United States understand that strong nations must have very strong borders.

    The President and I likewise are exploring opportunities to advance energy security. The United States and Poland are deeply committed to energy diversity all across Europe. No nation should be dependent upon a single foreign supplier of energy.

    Poland has worked tirelessly to increase energy independence nationally and across Central Europe. It is constructing a new pipeline - the highest technology - from Norway to Poland, and it recently built a liquefied natural gas import facility. Last year, the United States was proud to send its first export of LNG to Poland, and soon, our nations will launch a high-level diplomatic exchange on energy security.

    And, Mr. President, we are now, as of a few months ago, the largest producer of energy in the world. So that was - that's a big statement.

    President Duda, I also just want to talk to you about the Three Seas Summit, where Central European leaders were working hard to increase energy market access, reduce energy trade barriers - which is something we have to get done with respect to the European Union; the trade barriers, they make it very difficult for the United States - and to strengthen energy independence. The United States firmly supports these goals, and we are eager to expand commercial ties all across the region of Europe.

    In our meeting today, the President and I discussed our bilateral economic relationship at length. Poland has experienced more than a quarter century of uninterrupted economic growth - which is a very big statement; very few can say that. And we look forward to further enhancing trade, investment, and commerce between our two great nations.

    My administration is committed to realizing a future of prosperity and opportunity for all Americans. This month, we celebrated the highest employment level in U.S. history. We are right now employing more people. We have more workers in the United States than at any time ever in U.S. history. I look forward to partnering with President Duda as we grow our economies together.

    Mr. President, thank you for joining me today. Poland has chosen its place among the free and independent nations of the world and as a loyal ally and strategic partner of the United States. And we greatly appreciate that.

    We welcome the next 100 years of friendship between our two nations. Mr. President, thank you very much. Thank you.

    PRESIDENT DUDA: (As interpreted.) Your Excellency, distinguished Mr. President, and distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted that in this year so important to Poland - the year of Poland regaining its independence, we celebrate our 100th anniversary of it - I'm able to be hosted here, that I'm at the seat of the President of the United States at the White House, at Washington.

    And also, from this perspective, from the perspective of the centennial of Poland regaining its independence, this fact is of huge important for Poles - both those living in Poland and those living abroad, especially the 10 million Poles living in the United States. This is of huge, symbolic importance.

    One reason for that is that the matter of Polish independence was one of the important points of the policy of the U.S. President Wilson. It was precisely President Wilson, before 1918, he was the one who put Polish independence on his agenda - on the agenda of his policy. That happened among others, thanks to a great Polish politician, a composer and musician, Ignacy Jan Paderewski.

    But it is a fact that Poles experienced back then a lot of good from the United States and from the President of the United States. Because there are no other words to describe the fact that that great state indicated to Poland and defined Poland as the country who should be reinstated back on the map of Europe and on the map of the world. And it was reinstated on that map, 100 years ago, in 1918.

    And I'm absolutely delighted that today, as Polish President, I can be here at Washington, sit at the same table with the President of the United States, and sign an agreement which is deepening our strategic partnership and which is renewing that strategic partnership.

    I'm talking here about the agreement on the strategic partnership. Such an agreement was signed in 2008 between our two countries. Back then, it was signed by the ministers of foreign affairs. And today, this renewed version - the version which has been updated because a lot has changed over the 10 years - this renewed version of the strategic partnership was signed personally by myself and President Donald Trump. And I would like to express my deep gratitude to you, Mr. President, for that fact.

    This agreement indicates the most important aspects of our cooperation and our friendship. It also sets new paths for the future: the paths of tightening our defense cooperation and military cooperation; tightening our cooperation in the area of security and energy business; tightening our cooperation in the broadly understood sphere of business. Also, in the aspect of the already mentioned cooperation as part of the Three Seas Initiative to which Mr. President has just alluded.

    I came here to Washington right from the summit of the Three Seas Initiative, the first business forum organized as part of the Three Seas Initiative. The United States was present there as the partner of the Three Seas. And thank you, Mr. President, for that. Thank you for posting your representatives to that meeting.

    And all the leaders who held their speeches there said in a very clear way about the need and hope for cooperation with the United States of America regarding the renewal and building of a new infrastructure, road infrastructure, railway infrastructure, energy infrastructure, both concerning electricity and the transmission of gas in Central Europe along the north-south axis. I'm referring here to the area between the Baltic States, though Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, all the way down to the Black Sea, and then through Croatia and Slovenia to the Adriatic Sea.

    This is the space in which we want to cooperate. This is the space in which we want to develop. Our cooperation with the United States is of keen importance in this respect.

    Also, as far as providing energy security is concerned, today we've talked at length about this with Mr. President. We also discussed threats to energy security in Europe, to the possible diversification of supplies. Without any doubt, such a huge - the biggest threat right now is posed by the construction of Nord Stream II gas pipeline. We discussed at length about this with Mr. President. I presented him the situation as it is.

    Unfortunately, we have to be clear and say that, both from the German side and from the Russian side, this construction has already been started. There is still some formalities going on connected with the laying of the pipes at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. However, this investment, without any doubt, threatens energy stability of Europe. And without any doubt, it also threatens Polish energy security, because it is a threat. There is a threat of Russian energy domination, especially when Russia mentions that it's going to build more pipelines - Nord Stream III, Nord Stream IV.

    This threat of absolute Russian domination in Europe, in terms of gas deliveries, is obvious. What are the results of such a domination, ladies and gentlemen? We were able to see that ourselves a couple of years ago in Ukraine. A sudden interruption of supplies. Of course, it had nothing to do with economic factors. It was connected only and exclusively with political blackmail. It was a fact.

    And it is obvious that today we are making efforts and we are going to go to any lengths to protect ourselves from that. That is why we decided to construct an LNG terminal. That is why we also decided to receive the LNG gas from the United States.

    I'm really glad that we have concluded such contracts. I'm glad that American companies are right now delivering LNG to Poland. And this precisely is a very important element of diversification of gas supplies to our country. And I firmly believe that, thanks to the LNG gas terminal, thanks to expanding its capacities as far as the annual quantities of gas are concerned, we are not only going to realize and safeguard our own energy needs, but I also hope that we'll be able to transmit gas further to our neighbors through the development of the Three Seas Initiative area through the construction of interconnectors.

    These issues were all raised by us today during our talks with Mr. President.

    And last but not least, opening up to business, we would like to invite American business to Poland. There are better and better investment possibilities. Poland is experiencing a very dynamic growth. Of course, there are companies from the United states which have been present in the Polish market for many, many years, like General Electric, which right now is implementing a huge investment concerning energy sector in Poland - conventional energy - such as construction of the Ostrołęka to Poland that is a huge contract amounting to almost $2 billion.

    These are the huge projects which are all being realized in Poland. But I want to invite to Poland all business people - those who have got huge economic projects here and who have got huge possibilities of investment. But we would also like to invite the smaller ones. Poland is a big European country. I believe it is an interesting partner where the United States and the U.S. business is very much welcome. And I want to assure you, ladies and gentlemen, about that.

    There is also a perspective of developing your activity through Poland to include the Three Seas countries. And this is something that we have been working on as a part of the Three Seas Initiative. We want to ensure, also, the communication possibilities, and we also want to increase the opportunities for economic cooperation.

    We want, also, business partners from the U.S. to join our projects. There are going to be a lot of communication, traffic-related investments in our part of Europe. We would like invite American businesses to come, because I believe that this opens up an opportunity for making joint business.

    And, ladies and gentlemen, all of that is connected, of course, with the issue of military security. I'm hugely delighted with the presence of U.S. Armed Forces in the Polish territory. I'm deeply satisfied with the decisions that were taken by Warsaw NATO Summit in 2016, where the presence of the military forces of NATO in Poland was guaranteed. I'm also happy that we have, in Poland, American soldiers as part of our bilateral agreements. But I would like to invite you, Mr. President, to post more American troops to Poland. We believe that the presence of the United States is a guarantor of security in our part of Europe.

    We, ourselves, want to invest further. We want to modernize Polish Armed Forces. Mr. President Trump mentioned the so-called Wisła air defense system. That includes the purchase of Patriot missiles. We are implementing the largest military investment so far, as far as the Polish Armed Forces are concerned, over the last 30 years.

    We want to implement more projects. We want to buy more equipment. We also want to cooperate in the area of research and development as regards to military technology. And I'm convinced that this cooperation between Poland and the United States will go on smoothly. I hope that Mr. President will make a decision to deploy to Poland more U.S. units, together with equipment.

    Ladies and gentlemen, I was smiling when talking to Mr. President. I said that I would very much like for us to set up permanent American bases in Poland, which we would call "Fort Trump." And I firmly believe that this is possible. I am convinced that such a decision lies both in the Polish interest as well as in the interest of the United States.

    Poland is an attractive country an attractive country. And first and foremost, it's got a very important strategic location in Europe. And I'm convinced that, for the interest of the United States, also pertaining to the security of the United States itself, the presence of the U.S. Armed Forces in our country is important also to protect American interests.

    Mr. President, once again, thank you very much for this meeting. Thank you, once again, for this joint declaration that we're able to sign today. Thank you for also adding this new splendor to the centennial of Poland regaining its independence, and also to the 10th anniversary of our strategic partnership.

    PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you. A tremendous amount of LNG will be exported to Poland. We're giving them a pretty good price, but they're buying a lot of it, and that's going to be great.

    I do want to say that, while we're together, tremendous effort and bravery is being shown in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and the area that was so horribly hit by Hurricane Florence. I just got some clips of some of the things that the Coast Guard is doing and getting people to safety in horrible, horrible conditions.

    And I want to just salute all of the people that are working so hard: the first responders, law enforcement, the military, FEMA. The job they're doing is incredible. It's incredible. So I just want to thank them very much.
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