How have the Asian and Russian financial crises impacted the Eastern European economy? Labor leader and former president of the Polish Republic Lech Walesa talked to the media about this and other issues at Northeastern University, Boston.
Walesa was in town with eleven Polish business leaders from the banking, oil, construction and tourism industries to meet with Boston entrepreneurs to discuss investment opportunities.
Hosted by The Gorbachev Foundation of North America and Northeastern University's College of Business, the purpose of the meeting was to offer alternatives to businesses and work toward a global economy.
While working as an electrician at the Gdansk shipyard, Lech Walesa led " Solidarity," the first free trade union in Eastern Europe and initiated a strike that brought about the collapse of the Communist system in Poland. He was elected president of the Polish Republic in the first free, democratic election in Poland and influenced fundamental democratic changes in Europe.
One of Walesa's greatest successes as president was to force the withdrawal of Russian troops stationed in Poland since the end of the Second World War. He was later awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. Retired from politics, he now heads the Lech Walesa Institute whose aim is to advance the ideals of democracy and free market reform throughout Eastern Europe and the rest of the world.
