US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton laid a wreath, Saturday morning, at the Katyn Cross in Krakow’s Old Town in memory of the victims of the Smolensk plane crash, as part of her one-day visit to the city in southern Poland.
Clinton laid the wreath on behalf of US President Barack Obama, who could not attend the funeral of the late presidential couple, Maria and Lech Kaczynski on April 17 due to a cloud of volcanic ash that closed down much of Europe’s airspace.
At 10.00 CET Clinton arrived at the Katyn Cross with a heavily armed escort directly after having flown in to Krakow’s Balice airport half an hour previously.
A crowd of onlookers gathered at the foot of Wawel Hill to watch Clinton arrive at the wreath laying ceremony.
Afterwards she met with family relatives of four of the 96 victims who died in the fatal accident on April 10: deputy foreign minister Andrzej Kremer, generals Bronislaw Kwiatkowski and Wlodzimierz Potasinski, as well as the artist Wojciech Seweryn.
Following the commemoration Hillary Clinton was taken to the newly-opened Schindler’s Factory in Krakow’s former Jewish Ghetto.
The U.S. Secretary of State also officially confirmed the U.S. government's financial support for the Auschwitz - Birkenau museum situated not far from Krakow.
Clinton will spend much of Saturday at the 10th anniversary of the Community of Democracies, organised by Poland’s foreign ministry and hosted by Minister Radek Sikorski.
Polish and American heads of diplomacy will also jointly sign an amendment to the anti-missile shield agreement between the two countries, originally agreed to years ago under the Bush administration.
‘Convergence of views’
At a press conference given at midday by both foreign minister and secretary of state, Radek Sikorski said that he saw a convergence of views on energy security issues and is happy that Poland and the US will cooperate on the extraction of recently discovered shale gas deposits in Poland.
"I am pleased with our talks, which were devoted to a large degree on energy cooperation and energy security,” Sikorski said. "I see a tremendous convergence of views on these issues.”
“We are allies,“” Hilary Clinton responded to questions from journalists on the amended anti-missile agreement. “The United States is heavily involved in the security of Poland’s security and sovereignty.”
"[The agreement] will protect the Polish nation, the whole of Europe, our allies and others from various threats. Americans are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Poland,” she added.
Later on Saturday Clinton will fly to Baku, Azerbaijan. (jb/pg)
updated: 12.57
Thenews.pl |
