President Duda decorates US general - News - National Security Bureau

13.04.2017

President Duda decorates US general

Polish President Andrzej Duda on Thursday decorated General Curtis M. Scaparrotti, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, with the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

Present at the ceremony at the Presidential Palace was Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz.

The president said he was very glad to honour General Scaparrotti with a high distinction and described him as "a man merited for Poland and the building of security architecture, not only in Europe, but also in Poland".

The Polish president stressed the importance of decisions taken by last year's NATO summit in Warsaw and added that "they had a historic dimension and meaning".

"The security zone will be established when these decisions have been implemented. Let me stress the general's achievements regarding the implementation of what the NATO summit had decided in order to strengthen the alliance's presence in our part of Europe", the president stressed.

The Polish president praised the general for "his remarkable consistency" in implementing the alliance's decisions.

Ealier President Andrzej Duda met with General Curtis M. Scaparrotti, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe. President said that Poland is aware of the obligations stemming from its NATO membership.

"Poland understands that apart from the issue of its security, understood directly as strengthening Poland's security here, there is also the issue of building by the Alliance, including Poland, the security in international space".

In this context he pointed to commitments made by Poland in the Middle East, where "both Polish soldiers and Polish equipment are present". In this context he reiterated the participation of Polish F-16 fighter planes in reconnaissance missions against the Islamic State and the presence of Polish troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We are serious about our allied commitments. (...) We are thinking not only about ourselves, but also about others and we are looking at the Alliance as a single whole", the president assured.

Source: PAP