On April 21, 2005, the Polish American Business Club, Polonia Technica and the Central European Business Association, in conjunction with the Consul General of The Republic of Poland in New York, Ms. Angieszka Magdziak-Miszewska, organized at the Consulate on 'Technology and Science in the Polish - American Economic Relationship'.

Prof. Andrzej Nowak of the University of Nebraska, a civil engineer specializing in the construction of bridges, served as one of the guest speakers. One of the critical questions that the professor posed concerned how to improve the promotion of doctoral programs at American uuniversities to college students in Poland. During his  time at the University of Nebraska, Prof. Nowak has witnessed an influx of doctoral students from countries such as China and India while doctoral students from countries such as Poland were practically nonexistent. The professor credits this underrepresentation and missed opportunities for Poles on the lack of communication and the lack of advertisement of American doctoral programs in Poland.

Additional speakers at the symposium included Marek Bartosik, Secretary of State, Ministry of Science and Information Technology of Poland, Krzysztof Dabrowski, Commercial Counselor/Trade Commissioner, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in New York and Dr. Wojciech Ratynski, President, the Federation of Technology Science Associations. Also featured was Zbigniew Lange, Vice President, the Federation of Technology Science Associations.

 Minister Marek Bartosik focused mainly on the economic prospects for Poland within the European Union and, among other things, discussed his desire to attract scientists for projects that will enhance European funds. The minister also mentioned the need for more young Poles to pursue degrees in the Economic Development.  Key issues about economic and trade relations between Poland and United States and the necessity of improving those relations between the two countries were brought up by Mr. Krzysztof Dabrowski. It was clear that Mr. Dabrowski believes that Poland needs to invigorate and deepen these relations. Dr. Wojciech Ratynski delivered the closing remarks during which he acknowledged the role of young educated people and the importance of their involvement in the future of Poland. Furthermore, he stressed that a potential key area of success for Poland lies in capitalizing upon scientific experiments in areas like information technology. Dr. Ratynski's remarks were followed by an interactive Q&A discussion.

On Thursday, May 6 in midtown Manhattan Mr. Rand Beers, Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to Senator John Kerry met with representatives of the Central and Eastern European community to discuss what a Kerry administration’s foreign policy would look like most especially as this relates to policies and measures affecting the Central Eastern European region and its people. This gathering was monumental as it marked the first time senior members of a U.S. President elect’s team met with the CEE diaspora.

The assembled group of approximately one hundred Poles, Ukrainians, Hungarians, Armenians and Lithuanians, to name a few, came from as far as Washington, DC in order to voice issues of concern and importance to the respective groups ranging from NATO expansion and Iraqi Reconstruction to Immigration reform/visa waiver programs and the need for Russia to become a responsible member of the community of nations. Regardless of one’s political views, the program provided a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness and bring attention to the members of our community living both in the United States and abroad.

This policy discussion was organized by the Central European Business Association (www.centraleurope.org) a non-profit young professional’s organization which aims to increase the Central Eastern European community’s visibility within the U.S. and promote the advancement of the region and its people.  The session was moderated by Mr. Mark Brzezinski (son of Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter) who is a Partner at McGuire Woods law firm and serves as an Advisor to the Kerry Campaign.

On October 29 at The Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, George Cunningham, Director, Press and Public Affairs Office European Union Delegation of the European Commission to the United Nations gave a presentation entitled  European Union Enlargement: The Decisive Moment.   Mr. Cunningham holds a Master of Modern History degree from Oxford University. Before entering the public sector he worked in the private sector including British Petroleum and British Telecom. Key government guests at the conference included: Krzysztof Dabrowski, Commercial Counselor, Embassy of Poland in New York; Leah Markowitz, U.S. Department of Commerce Czech, Hungary and Poland Country Officer; Richard Steffens, Senior Commercial Officer, U.S. Embassy, Prague.

The conference highlighted the most important aspects of the complex integration issues. The main focus were the EU candidates which will soon bring the number of member states from 15 to 25. In order to meet the basic requirements for candidacy countries must: adhere to democracy and human rights, have a market economy, and the ability to compete in a single market. The Nice Summit, which was approved by the Irish referendum, provides an outline of the chapters of negotiation (there are 30) in order to reach membership. Poland has reached the 27 chapter, followed by Hungary and the Czech Republic respectively. Though not quite there yet Bulgaria has made tremendous progress while Romania is still lagging behind. Turkey is still not a candidate mainly due to its continued human rights violations and unresolved issues concerning Cyprus. One of the greatest concerns of the candidate countries are agricultural subsidies. The Brussels Summit took care of the budgeting for these subsidies for the 2004-2006 period. However future budgeting for this sector is still uncertain.   Though there are areas of concern the popularity of EU integration is growing. Candidate countries have increased public awareness/publicity campaigns to win support for integration. In Poland for example 66% of the population now favors integration.  Interestingly member countries hold a variety of views on the acceptance of their neighbors. Denmark leads the way in favoring expansion followed by Sweden and Spain. Countries most opposed to accepting the candidates are the United Kingdom, France and Germany.  If negotiations in the spring of 2003 go well, up to ten new countries may join the EU in the first half of 2004.

After the session Mr. Cunningham answered a series of questions from the audience. The Q & A was followed by a reception.

• Participated in the debate of the 56th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
• Met with Secretary General Koffi Annan.
• Took part in meetings with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of several nations including: the Czech Republic, Spain, Russia, and Ukraine. During these meetings he brought up the necessity of improving relations as well as furthering greater cooperation with Poland’s neighbors.
• Presented the ratification of the statute of the International Criminal Tribunal & Consequence Against International Organized Crime.
• Met with representatives of Polonia (Poles residing abroad) and the American Jewish Congress (Kongres Zydow Amerykanskich). During the meeting important issues were brought up including the problem associated with the property rights of Polish Jews (living abroad since the end of the war) whose property was taken over along the lines of postwar nationalization by Polish communist authorities.
• A press conference was held on the evening of November 12 at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Poland to the United Nations where Minister Cimoszewicz met with representatives of the Polish American media as well as with the Polish-American Business Club and CEBA. During the course of his conversation with CEBA the Minister underlined his pride in the existence of organizations of young and educated Poles abroad. The Minister expressed his hope that in the future there will be more of these organizations-also in places with smaller Polish communities, for example South Carolina.