Negotiations on Polish-US defence cooperation completed: US ambassador

US Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher announced on Friday that “the U.S. and Poland had completed negotiations on an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement,” which is to “implement the joint vision of” President Andrzej Duda and President Donald Trump “to enhance the U.S. military presence in Poland.”

Great news! The U.S. and Poland completed negotiations on an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. The EDCA will implement the joint vision of our two presidents to enhance the U.S. military presence in Poland. Thank you to all on both sides who worked so hard on this!

— Georgette Mosbacher (@USAmbPoland) July 31, 2020

Where the US troops will be relocated from is at Washington’s own discretion, Poland’s Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak told Polish Radio on Friday, adding that the ministry’s knowledge in this regard was based on information provided by US Defence Secretary Mark Esper.

“At least 1,000 extra [US] soldiers will make it to Poland… This number is put down in the declaration signed by the Presidents of Poland and the US last year,” Mr Błaszczak said, adding that thanks to the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) “ the presence of the US troops in Poland, their numbers continue to grow and we now have a [US] division HQ with a general. This is a permanent presence. Currently, we are working on a new agreement in line with which we will acquire a corps command that will be used to command US forces on the whole of the eastern flank.”

The EDCA is a result of the meeting between President Duda and President Trump that took place on September 23, 2019, in the White House, USA, on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly.

In the declaration, Poland and the US stated that they would continue to strengthen their strategic and defence relations to improve the security of both countries as well as NATO as a whole.

The declaration signed by both presidents also included terms and detailed information regarding increasing the US Army presence in Poland. It listed the towns where military bases and training centres are to be located.