U.S., Poland Move to Improve Ties : Too Early to Talk About Lifting Sanctions, Official Says

Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead said Saturday that the United States and Poland are “clearly on the way to improving our relations” after three days of talks that yielded a promise to limit harassment of former Solidarity activists.

But he said it was too early to say when the United States would lift economic sanctions that have been in force since the Solidarity movement was suppressed under a declaration of martial law five years ago.

“The official discussions were cordial and frank,” Whitehead said after meeting for almost three hours with Polish leader Wojciech Jaruzelski. “While we did not always agree, I think each side has a better understanding of the views of the other.”

As part of the U.S. Administration’s policy of gradual normalization of relations between the two countries, officials said talks will begin soon on a series of steps, including a scientific-technical cooperation agreement, a visit to Washington by Polish Sejm (Parliament) members headed by Politburo member Josef Czyrek and a meeting of the U.S.-Poland Joint Economic Commission.

U.S. to Join Trade Fair

In addition, American firms will return in June to the Posnan Trade Fair for the first time since martial law was imposed five years ago. The firms will “exhibit products and try to do some business,” a senior U.S. official who took part in the talks said.

Those steps, and Whitehead’s visit, came as part of a process that began with lower-level talks last December after the Polish government declared an amnesty for political prisoners in September.

Despite these signs of progress, however, Whitehead said he could give no date for the lifting of economic sanctions that deprive Poland of most-favored-nation trading status and bar the granting of new bank credits.

“I think it’s premature to speculate whether or not we’re going to lift the sanctions or if it’s time to do that, but we’re clearly on our way to improving our relations,” he said.

Whitehead said Polish authorities assured him that Solidarity activists will not be rearrested and that it was not the intention of the government to deprive former internees of work.

Unemployed Violate Law

Several of those released in September remain unemployed, thus technically violating a law requiring adult men to hold jobs.

Whitehead said the authorities told him they were willing to “discuss individual cases that came to our attention.”

U.S. officials said much of the discussion with Polish leaders centered on attempts by the regime to achieve national reconciliation, a goal first expressed by Jaruzelski after martial law was lifted in 1983.

The United States has used the term as part of its effort to nudge Poland back toward the relative freedoms--including the right to form organizations such as independent trade unions--that existed during Solidarity’s heyday in 1980-81.

“National reconciliation is a process that’s difficult to judge,” said a senior U.S. official who asked not to be identified.

‘Frustrating for All Parties’

“At any given moment, it’s hard to set out conditions that need to be fulfilled. It’s frustrating for all parties, but that’s how it is.”

In an official statement, the Polish news agency PAP said Whitehead and Jaruzelski had “an open, useful and constructive exchange of views on the key issues of bilateral relations. . . .’

Whitehead, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Poland since the imposition of martial law on Dec. 13, 1981, also met over dinner Friday night with Lech Walesa and other Solidarity activists.

Walesa said afterward that he restated his request that the sanctions be lifted to help Poland out of its economic crisis. Although planners have reported an increase in the nation’s gross national product, Poland is laboring under a growing foreign debt recently estimated at more than $33 billion.