President Duda: a new chapter in Polish-US military cooperation

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The United States are the key element of security architecture in the world, when it comes to militayr security. Today, the American soldiers are present in Poland - it's something that was impossible a few years ago, as well something that President Lech Kaczyński once dreamt of - today's it has become reality," Polish president told journalists in Washington ahead of the meeting with Donald Trump.

Duda expressed hope that "this presence will increase in many ways". "Apart from that, we also have very important economic issues that we want to expand, energetic security for Poland. We're looking far into the future, 20 years forward, we will certainly talk about it too," he stressed. "These are the talks between myself and President Donald Trump, but these issues will be discussed also on other political levels, more of an executive character, real-term executive," said president Duda.

Asked about how important the Wednesday's agreement will be for Poland, Duda said: "negotiations usually last for months but only if the planned agreement is serious and both parties treat it seriously and are willing to carry it out". "This is an agreement which, I hope, will in a sense open a new chapter in our military cooperation, but not only I hope, as a few other deals will be signed today," the president added.

Asked if that's the maximum of what could have been negotiated, Duda replied: "I think that we've negotiated well". "I guess the ambitions are much higher, but please bear in mind that such processes are of developing nature. Each one has its beginning and, as long as it moves forward peacefully and consistently, it can come to an end after a few years, at the same time growing and expanding. I assume that this is just the beginning," said Duda.

Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP