Warsaw expects to sign as soon as this year a final agreement on strengthening the US military presence in the country, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Monday at a joint press conference with US Vice President Mike Pence
WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd September, 2019) Warsaw expects to sign as soon as this year a final agreement on strengthening the US military presence in the country, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Monday at a joint press conference with US Vice President Mike Pence."We talked about expanding the presence of US [troops in Poland]. I hope that we will sign the final agreement this year, and make final decisions where they [US troops] will be deployed," Duda said.
In early summer, Warsaw and Washington agreed that the United States would deploy MQ-9 US reconnaissance drones in Poland. The parties also agreed that the United States would increase its troops in the eastern European country by 1,000 from the current 4,500. In turn, Poland would undertake at its own expense the preparation of all the necessary infrastructure to accommodate such a large number of US servicemen and military equipment.
Poland has planned a tender for the purchase of combat helicopters for the Polish army and invites the United States to participate, Duda said.
"We hope that US firms will take part in the planned tender," he said.
Pence and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Moravecki also signed a 5G network security declaration.
Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller said earlier that after signing the 5G network security declaration, the parties will move on to specific issues, including research of the matter and creation of a security framework for the new mobile network. Muller also mentioned a "controversy" during the choice of the equipment supplier, referring to the possible participation of Chinese telecommunications company Huawei in the supply of 5G equipment.
The United States accuses Huawei of collaborating with the Chinese military and intelligence services and using their equipment for illegal surveillance purposes. The United States has also launched a campaign for other countries to give up using Huawei equipment and infrastructure for the new generation of 5G networks. Huawei has rejected the allegations, saying the restrictions could affect the company's ability to provide services to clients in more than 170 countries globally.
In May, the US Commerce Department blacklisted Huawei and about 70 of its affiliates from purchasing US technology and doing business with US companies without relevant government authorization. A temporary exemption was obtained by Google to supply the Chinese tech giant with an OC Android software update, but the exemption expired on August 19.
