US President Barack Obama will discuss the importance of Poland's shale gas deposits for Europe's energy security and announce the location of an F-16 squadron in an airbase in Lask, central Poland, during his two-day visit to Poland starting May 27, DPA reported.
The US president will arrive in Poland to meet President Bronislaw Komorowski and attend a summit of Central and Eastern Europe leaders in Warsaw.
On May 27 in the evening Obama will be guest to dinner given for him by President Komorowski, PAP learnt from sources close to organizers.
On May 28 the US president will receive Poland's PM Donald Tusk for a two-hour talk and will again meet President Komorowski. The two presidents will hold a joint press conference.
Talks of Polish and US politicians are to centre on shale gas deposits in Poland. This issue will be discussed prior to Obama's visit to Poland, at a conference organized by the US embassy in Warsaw and Poland's foreign ministry on May 11.
The conference, to be attended by Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and US Ambassador to Poland Lee Feinstein, will centre on the significance of shale gas for Europe's energy security and on prospecting for its deposits in Poland and Europe.
In April 2011 the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated Poland's shale gas deposits at 5.3 billion cubic meters which means that the country had the biggest deposit of the 32 surveyed European states. This amount of gas should satisfy Poland's need for gas for the coming 300 years, the agency said.
ConocoPhillips, Chevron, ExxonMobil or Marathon Oil are among firms that received licenses for prospecting unconventional gas in Poland.
Obama and Komorowski will discuss the rotational deployment of F-16 fighter planes in the locality of Lask (35 kilometers from Lodz), central Poland. The 32 Tactical Air Force Base located there has multi-task F-16 planes since the autumn of 2008.
According to PAP sources Poland has been holding diplomatic talks striving for received from the US a declaration that the entire wing of F-16, presently stationed in Italian Aviano, will be deployed in Poland.
The plan of rotational presence of US fighter planes in Poland was announced during last year's visit of President Bronislaw Komorowski to Washington in December 2010. Presidential aide Roman Kuzniar explained that the US authorities proposed Poland that 16 F-16 fighter and 4 Hercules transport planes be stationed in Poland as of mid-2013.
Earlier in the day Gazeta Wyborcza daily wrote that according to US experts the Lask base is one of the most modern objects of its kind in Europe. US troops to station in the base will train Polish F-16 crews.
In Poland Obama will also confirm Poland's access to a modified missile defence system employing SM-3 missiles, the paper wrote.
The US embassy in Warsaw in March said that Obama will pay a visit to Poland on March 23 -28 within the framework of his European trip that includes also Ireland, Great Britain and France.
Presidential aide Tomasz Nalecz said Sunday that Obama arrives to Poland to meet Central and East Europe's leaders and to pay a visit to Poland. He stressed that the summit of presidents and prime ministers of Central and Eastern Europe is a very important event that "confirms Poland's role in the region and on the international arena."
According to Gazeta Wyborcza paper the US president plans to meet leaders during a working dinner.
Obama, who has already been in Europe failed to pay a visit to Poland. His planned trip for a funeral of the President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria on April 18 was cancelled because of volcanic ash from Iceland that hampered air traffic over Europe.