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Polish economic delegations, one headed by the Minister of Chemical Industry and the other by the Chairman of the Committee on Science and Technology, visited the United States. In June, Gierek and Premier Jaroczewicz, paying a visit to the American pavilion at the annual Poznan international trade fair, expressed an interest in increased trade and in gaining access to US technological know-how. The swift and positive US response to these overtures was received warmly in Warsaw. In August 1971 the United States granted a request originally made by the former Gomulka regime for an export license allowing Poland to purchase a catalytic cracking plant, a key element in Poland's plans to expand its petrochemical industry; in October a credit was made available for the purchase of US agricultural products; in November the then US Secretary of Transportation John Volpe visited Warsaw to sign an agreement on cooperation in research on transportation problems; and in December the then US Secretary of Commerce Maurice Stans went to Warsaw to explore further the prospects for expanding mutual trade.
By early 1972 the new Polish leadership saw the way clear for more dramatic steps. In a foreign policy assessment before parliament in March Premier Jaroczewicz publicly welcomed the "interest of the United States in expanding economic, scientific, and technical relations" with Poland. Less than a month after the installation of the new Polish Government following the elections of 19 March, the Polish ambassador in Washington extended an invitation to President Nixon to visit Poland, resulting in the President's stopover in Warsaw on 31 May and 1 June on his return from the summit meeting with Soviet leaders in Warsaw.
The official reception accorded the President was well in keeping with the greatly improved climate of mutual relations. The official communique after President Nixon's two meetings with Polish leaders acknowledged continuing differences, but recorded significant agreement on a multitude of issues. Notable, it cited agreement on the setting up of an institutionalized framework for holding regular bilateral consultations on trade and scientific cooperation, increased personal contacts, and steps to establish reciprocal air and sea connections. The long-stalled consular agreement was signed on 31 May, paving the way, among the other things, to the reciprocal establishment of new consular missions in New York and Krakow, respectively. In a matter of crucial interest to Poland, the communique placed the United States on record as welcoming the treaty between Poland and West Germany - "including its
FIGURE 15. President Nixon receiving a souvenir copy of the Polish party daily Trybuna Ludu from Gierek during talks in Warsaw, 31 May-1 June 1972 (U/OU) (picture)
border provisions" - and as endorsing the Polish view on early multilateral consultations to prepare for a CSCE.
The Polish regime showed undisguised pleasure at the results of the visit, seeing it as having enhanced the prestige of the Gierek leadership both at home and abroad; the press, for example, stressed President Nixon's invitation for Polish leaders to visit the United States. More broadly, the visit was publicly hailed in the media as the beginning of a "new chapter" in Polish-US relations, while giving appropriate credit to the Moscow summit for having made this possible. Most revealing of the Gierek regime's thinking, however, was a press assessment which viewed the visit as demonstrating that the role of Poland and other "middle powers" on the international scene would increase proportionately to the progress of detente in East-West relations. In bilateral terms, the visit opened even further the door to a wide range of cooperative endeavors. This was reflected in the conclusion on 30 October 1972 of a bilateral agreement on scientific and technological cooperation, and on 8 November of a wide-ranging trade agreement which was expected to triple bilateral trade by the second half of the 1970s.
d. International organizations
Poland has been a member of the United Nations since October 1945. In 1956 it rejoined a number of specialized UN agencies from which, like other Communist countries, it had withdrawn at the outbreak of the Korean conflict. The International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development are the only major
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070029-7
