State of Maryland
Receives Honorary Consul
And Consulate
BALTIMORE, Md. – Despite playwright William Shakespeare’s ominous warning to “Beware the Ides of March,” March 23, 2021 proved to be a very auspicious day for the Polonia and citizens of the State of Maryland. On this mid-March day the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Washington, D.C., formally announced the appointment of Honorary Consul Richard P. Poremski, and consequently the establishment of a Consulate in the City of Baltimore. The United States Department of State followed suit with its approvals and published the necessary official government announcement, and issued consular credentials to Poremski.
Photo: Richard P. Poremski, depicted, has been appointed an Honorary Consul by the Republic of Poland for the State of Maryland, headquartered in the City of Baltimore. The United States Department of State granted Poland’s request for the establishment of the Consulate and formally approved the appointment of the Honorary Consul.
Poremski’s appointment began with a fraternal overture from the Polish Embassy. After he accepted the candidacy there followed over the course of time a lengthy, arduous and very complex application and vetting process. All of the various multi-faceted documents had to be submitted in Polish and English. Then there was all the necessary diplomatic interaction between the Embassy of Poland, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw, and the U.S. Department of State. To be sure, every single ‘i’ was dotted and every single ‘t’ was crossed – sometimes even more than once, before all of the parties applied their final stamp of approval to the new diplomatic venture.
The Polish Embassy, in its official government announcement, stated that “The duties of Polish Honorary Consuls include: protection of the rights and interests of the Republic of Poland and its citizens, fostering friendly relations and cooperation between Poland and the U.S., fostering the bonds between Poland and Polish Americans, promoting the Polish economy, science, culture and language, and providing consular assistance.”
There are five (5) Consulates General located in the major U.S. cities of Washington, D.C, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and New York that are direct diplomatic extensions of the Polish Embassy in Washington. Additionally, there are seventeen (17) Honorary Consulates/Consuls that span the length and breadth of the U.S., including those in Hawaii, Alaska, California, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, and also offshore in The Commonwealth of the Bahamas. (Poland’s ambassador to the U.S. is also its ambassador to The Bahamas.)
The Polonia of both Maryland and Baltimore are very proud of the newest diplomatic outpost of the Republic of Poland to be established in the United States of America.
Respectfully submitted,
Malgorzata Bondyra
Certified Translator/Interpreter
Polish/English Languages