What does the Three Seas Initiative mean for the USA?
Waldemar Biniecki: The year 2020 will surely be a year, which will change the face of the world both in terms of politics and economy. After Super Tuesday in the U.S. Joe Bidden has got back in the game in the democratic party. In spite of many reputational problems (female-male relations, corruption affairs of his family members) he is still a representative at the centre of the Democratic Party.
Several important candidates have withdrawn from preliminary elections and the final choice will be made by the democrats during the convention in the city where I live, Milwaukee. The Democratic National Convention will be held at Fiserv Forum from 13th to 16th July 2020. It is without doubt that the present political and economic situation is affected by the global epidemic COVID-19 known to everybody as coronavirus, which after Black Monday has led to a drastic decrease of company values almost on all stock exchanges. The global epidemic has revealed the situation of the lack of diversification of suppliers for an American consumer. Shop shelves are slowly becoming empty and large trading companies are aggressively looking for new suppliers. Leading experts in the global supply market, such as for instance Dr Nada Sanders forecasts a global recession in 2020. Others recommend to calm down and counteract panic. The Americans are increasingly demanding organic food – goods which are of better quality than that from the Far East. In this situation American food providers already indicate south American markets such as Brazil, Argentina or nearby like Mexico. Could the countries of the Three Seas Initiative be such supply countries? Definitely Yes. Especially that with his declarations and the decision to invest in the Three Seas Initiative, Mike Pompeo has clearly pointed this direction to American business. Now it is about how to take advantage of this situation. Both in Poland and other countries of the Three Seas Initiative a hard infrastructure must be created, i.e. the whole system of exchange of goods on the north-south line, transportation, gas, fuel hubs and others. Apart from them, there must also exist a soft infrastructure, i.e. communication systems (along with the English language TV of the Three Seas Initiative), banking and financial institutions, law firms and many others, supporting the development of this project.
Here in America, it is worth investing in the pro-Polish and pro-Three Seas Initiative lobbing group which would deal with promoting this project in concrete business and political environments. Most soft actions, however, is on the Polish side. On 6th December 2019 in the Lublin Conference Centre there was a conference held ”Prospects of economic cooperation of the Three Seas Regions”. The event was an announcement of the international Economic Forum of Regions of the Three Seas Initiative of the Union of Lublin, which will be held on 2nd – 3rd April 2020.Such events must be popularised not only in Poland but also in the USA. American public opinion does not understand that the USA is successively ousted from Western Europe. Both Poland and the countries of the Three Seas Initiative are the best partners in foreign policy and in NATO activity. It is a narration which cannot be forgotten in the presidential campaign. It is not only the issue of Polish security but also of the Polish national interest.
Source: TYSOL.PL
The original Polish version of the column was published in “Tygodnik Solidarność”. The English version is an unauthorised translation.
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