On 2 December 2023, Chicago’s Copernicus Center hosted a conference entitled. “Poland as a leader in Central Europe”, of which the Copernicus Academy was a strategic and substantive partner. The event was attended by, among others, Dr Tomasz Rzymkowski – Secretary of State at the Ministry of Education and Science and Piotr Semeniuk – Director of the Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Education and Science.
“Poland has all the data to become a regional superpower,” said Deputy Minister of Education and Science Dr Tomasz Rzymkowski during the conference “Poland as a leader in Central Europe”, held on 2 December at the Copernicus Center in Chicago. In his opinion, our country has the economic, military, demographic and cultural potential to become a major reference point in our region.
In a similar vein, Grzegorz Górny, President of the Tri-Central European Association, pointed out that in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine, the importance of states with large deterrent forces is growing, while Poland, which is expanding its army and making large-scale armaments, could become the main distributor of security in our part of the continent. Grzegorz Górny added that the Polish raison d’état is to build an alliance of Central European states to jointly articulate their interests in the EU forum. One such format, crucial because of both security and economic benefits, is the Trilateral Initiative. Piotr Semeniuk, Director of the Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Education and Science, on the other hand, noted that it is impossible to build lasting alliances in our region without social capital, which should be based on mutual trust. The best way to achieve this is through cultural, scientific, youth etc. exchanges between the countries.
In turn, Krzysztof Żółtek, a financial advisor at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and secretary general of the North American Highlanders Association, said that Poland could be an attractive investment destination for US capital, but still attracts too little investment from the United States. All conference participants agreed that cooperation with the US and strengthening transatlantic ties is crucial for Europe’s economic prosperity and security.
