German Marshall Fund opens offices in Warsaw

President Bronislaw Komorowski at the opening of the german Marshall Fund office in Warsaw. Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka

The ceremony was attended by President Bronislaw Komorowski, who said that he would like the Foundation to undertake actions “to strengthen Polish freedom, and also to widen the sphere of free thought not only in Polish-American relations, but also in a Euro-Atlantic dimension.”

The opening of the office came hours before the arrival of President Barack Obama to join the 17th Meeting of Presidents of Central European States, currently underway in Warsaw.

Inaugurating the office were the Polish head of state, the US Ambassador to Poland, Lee Feinstein, as well as the President of the German Marshall Fund, Craig Kennedy.

The German Marshall Fund website writes that “the office, to be staffed by Polish nationals, will work on a host of transatlantic, European, Central European, and Eastern neighbourhood issues through convening, research and analysis, and networking, often in close cooperation with GMF’s Washington headquarters and the other GMF offices and representations.”

Andrew Michta, a Rhodes College professor and himself born in Poland’s capital, is to head the GMF in Poland as director of the Warsaw office. He is a specialist in US and European security as well as transatlantic institutions and relations.

Founded in 1972 as a gift from Germany on the 25th anniversary of the Marshall Plan, the German Marshall Fund is a non-partisan American public policy and grant-making institution dedicated to promoting better understanding and cooperation between North America and Europe on transatlantic and global issues. (jb)

Source: PAP/GMF