During his trip to Poland in May 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk discussed their countries common interests to enhance U.S.-Poland commercial relations. Poland is an important commercial partner for the United States; the value of U.S. assets in Poland is $30 billion and the two-way trade in 2010 totaled $6 billion. The United States is the world's largest economy and Poland is one of Europe's fastest growing, so both sides seek to stimulate more commercial activity between the two countries.

The U.S.-Poland Business Summit, took place on June 20, 2012 at Copernicus Science Center in Warsaw and was a major international trade and investment event. It was attended by senior level government officials from the United States, including Acting U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Rebecca M. Blank, United States Ambassador to Poland, Lee A. Feinstein, U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce of Commerce Francisco J. Sanchez, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Market Access and Compliance Michael C. Camunez, and from Poland Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Waldemar Pawlak, Undersecretary Ilona Antoniszyn-Klik, Undersecretary Hanna Trojanowska, Ministry of Economy, Minister Michał Boni and Undersecretary Igor Ostrowski from the Ministry of Administration and Digitalization, Undersecretary Paweł Tamborski, Ministry of Treasury, Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, Chairman, Economic Council of the Prime Minister, Olgierd Dziekoński, Minister, President's Chancellery, Undersecretary Beata Stelmach and Undersecretary Bogusław Winid, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Secretary of State Maria Elżbieta Orłowska, Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Krzysztof Bolesta, Special Adviser to the Minister of Environment on Climate and Energy, Ministry of Environment, Michał Kiełsznia, General Director for Environmental Protection, Rafał Miland, Director, Department of Geological and Geological Concessions, Ministry of Environment, Joseph Wancer, Chairman, American Chamber of Commerce in Poland, Eric Stewart, President, U.S.- Poland Business Council, Henryka Bochniarz, President, Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan, Sławomir Majman, President of the Board, Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ), Bożena Lublińska-Kasprzak, CEO, Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP) and Michał Kleiber, Chairman, Polish Academy of Science (PAN)
Participation of Polish and U.S. business executives was drawn from the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland; the U.S.-Poland Business Council and the Polish Confederation of Private Employers (PKPP Lewiatan). This roundtable fostered a collaborative government and private sector discussion to identify new commercial opportunities, promote innovative research and development cooperation, and to address obstacles that hinder commercial growth.

Prior to the business summit, the U.S. and Polish private sectors were canvassing their respective business communities to identify and prioritize business opportunities and constraints. In April 2012, we released a White Paper that covers such areas as:

* energy cooperation: nuclear, shale, renewable
* innovation: knowledge sharing, tech transfer, e-business
* bi-lateral relations: trade, SME development, promotion
* sectors: BPO, aviation, defense, biotechnology

These areas and more were addressed as the U.S.-Poland Business Summit topics for discussion.