- Title: Expectations - and security - high in Warsaw ahead of Trump visit
- Date: 5th July 2017
- Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (JULY 5, 2017) (REUTERS) WARSAW SKYLINE STREET ROYAL CASTLE, VENUE OF U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP'S MEETINGS MONUMENT SATELLITE TRUCKS VARIOUS OF PREPARATIONS AT KRASINSKICH SQUARE, WHERE TRUMP WILL HOLD SPEECH (SOUNDBITE) (English) ADVISER TO POLISH PRESIDENT, KRZYSZTOF SZCZERSKI, SAYING: "Poland has got a very concrete position over the issue of the security of our region. We say from the very beginning that we have to build up defence and deterrence capacities of NATO in our region just to prepare ourselves for any threats that may come to the region from outside forces. And these threats are not only on the military side, but also what is equally important is the violation of international law." POLICE VAN AND BLOCKED STREET CONSTRUCTION OF STAGE FOR TRUMP'S SPEECH VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN CHECKING MAN'S DOCUMENTS NO PARKING SIGNS BARRIERS (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) ADVISER TO POLISH PRESIDENT, KRZYSZTOF SZCZERSKI, SAYING: (SPEAKING ON U.S. LNG SALES TO POLAND) "These are business negotiations, which are really held parallel with the visit by President Trump in Warsaw. It is important that the technical delivery, the first test (delivery) proved the technical capabilities and the economic viability for such talks." MARRIOTT HOTEL, WHERE TRUMP WILL BE STAYING SECURITY CHECKPOINT POLICEMAN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) WARSAW RESIDENT, ELZBIETA, SAYING: "First of all Poland's security, Poland's security is the most important in the current times." (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) WARSAW RESIDENT, KAMIL, SAYING: "I don't expect much from this visit, frankly, the same as with Donald Trump." (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) WARSAW RESIDENT, KATARZYNA, SAYING: "I would want someone to support Poland when it comes to defence, so that if a war erupts, Poland won't be left alone, but have allies." VARIOUS OF POLICE ON STREETS
- Embargoed: 19th July 2017 12:22
- Keywords: Trump visit security preparations venues
- Location: WARSAW, POLAND
- City: WARSAW, POLAND
- Country: Poland
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0016OFXWZR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: U.S. President Donald Trump will get a chance to patch up trans-Atlantic ties this week when he meets with NATO allies still rattled by his failure on an earlier trip to embrace the principle that an attack against one member is an attack against all.
Trump heads to Warsaw on Wednesday (July 5) where the White House said he would showcase his commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in a speech and in meetings with a group of nations closest to Russia on his way to the G20 summit in Germany on Friday and Saturday.
Aside from shoring up the U.S. relationship with NATO allies, the speech is symbolically significant given Poland's proximity to Russia and regional fears about Moscow's ambitions following its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
Poland hopes to woo Donald Trump the businessman with new investment opportunities in eastern Europe when the U.S. president pays a whistle-stop trip to Warsaw on Thursday en route for a G20 summit in neighbouring Germany.
Amid transatlantic tensions over trade, security and climate change, Poland's right-wing, eurosceptic government wants to put the focus firmly on improving business ties between the United States and ex-communist central and eastern Europe.
Trump, a wealthy businessman, will attend a gathering of the 'Three Seas' initiative, launched jointly by Poland and Croatia last year, which aims to bolster trade, energy ties and infrastructure along a north-south axis stretching from the Baltic states down to the Balkans.
Trump, who has also clashed with the EU on a range of issues, is expected to promote U.S. natural gas exports in his address to about 10 leaders attending from across a region that is keen to reduce its heavy reliance on Russian energy.
Poland, the largest economy in the ex-communist region, received its first shipment of U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) last month at its Baltic port of Swinoujscie.
The North-South Gas Corridor, expected to be completed in the next two-three years, will help send gas supplied from the LNG terminal in Swinoujscie and also from a planned Baltic pipeline through Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary to a new LNG terminal in Croatia.
The U.S. is expected to become the world's third-largest exporter of LNG in 2020, just four years after starting up its first export terminal. U.S. exporters have sold most of that gas in long-term contracts, but there are still some volumes on offer, and more export projects on the drawing board.
Cheniere Energy Inc, which opened the first U.S. LNG export terminal in 2016, delivered its first cargo to Poland in June. Five more terminals are expected to be online by 2020.
Some European Union officials are skeptical about the 'Three Seas' project, which they see as an attempt by Poland - at loggerheads with Brussels on a range of issues - to build a leadership role in a region that includes the EU's poorest member states. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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