WROCLAW – The second and final day of the seventh annual Wroclaw Global Forum opened with a discussion featuring US Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), US Representative Jan Schakowsky, and Atlantic Council Chairman Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. on US foreign policy after the 2016 election. The wide-ranging discussion recapped the 2016 primary season and looked ahead to the types of discussions that will be had between the democratic and republican candidates in the general election.

Other topics covered during the panel included the US-Europe relationship, the refugee crisis, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Senator Manchin, speaking on the prospects for achieving a finalized TTIP, said, “No trade deal makes more sense for the United States than TTIP, but any deal needs close scrutiny.” Representative Schakowsky highlighted the humanitarian crisis created by the waves of migrants arriving on Europe’s borders each day, urging that all nations remember that “refugees are victims, not perpetrators of terrorism.” Discussing the historic and crucial partnership between the United States and Europe, Governor Huntsman underscored for the audience, “Americans care deeply about Europe.”

The afternoon session opened with a panel discussion on NATO’s future and the Warsaw Summit moderated by Atlantic Council President and CEO Fred Kempe. The panel featured US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller; Deputy Commanding General, 4^th Infantry Division, US Army Brig. Gen. James J. Mingus; Secretary of State and Head of the National Security Bureau Pawel Soloch; Deputy Secretary General of NATO Alexander Vershbow; and Senator Manchin.

The discussion highlighted the key issues facing the future of NATO, and stressed the importance of a productive summit in Warsaw next month. Said Vershbow, ““We face one of the most challenging security environments in decades. We have to step up and meet challenges from a revanchist Russia…and at the same time we have to deal with the arc of crisis that spans the entire Middle East and North Africa region. […] Failure is not an option as we go into the Warsaw summit. We have to show them all that NATO will deliver and I think we will.”

Other panels throughout the day discussed the defense industry, the US-Poland relationship, and terrorism and the migrant crisis, among other topics, and featured speakers including Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Secretary of State for European Affairs of the Republic of Poland Konrad Szymanski, US Representative Ted Poe, and US Ambassador to Poland Paul Jones.

Hosted alongside the Forum was the first-ever Dialogue on the Digital Economy. Opening with a private roundtable discussion on creating the environment for innovation, the dialogue concluded with a public session on the prospects for building an open transatlantic digital economy. During a panel discussion that featured US Ambassador to the European Union Anthony Gardner; Under Secretary of State for Economic Diplomacy, the Americas, Asia, and Europe for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland Katarzyna Kacperczyk, and Member of the European Parliament Kaja Kallas, Kallas spoke of the bigger picture in creating a transatlantic digital marketplace saying, “We are not creating laws, but rather the environment.”

Please visit the Wroclaw Global Forum website for more information including videos and recaps of the different sessions.