After touring the facilities, Wałęsa met with Coldstore Gdańsk’s management team and gave a speech about his vision and perspectives on today's urgent issues. The former president highlighted the crucial role of nation-state cooperation in addressing global challenges. He stressed that today's world leaders must collaborate closely to ensure a secure and prosperous future for the next generations, touching on critical issues such as social justice and food security.
President Wałęsa, true to form, also recalled his time as a shipyard electrician at the Gdańsk Shipyard, or the Lenin Shipyard as it was known back then. He explained he constantly sought ways to improve the present circumstances. "Whenever I encountered something unsatisfactory, I aimed to make it better. Dissatisfied with the existing unions, I founded Solidarność. And the Communist regime in Poland? That needed improvement as well," the ex-president remarked, reflecting on his significant contributions to the historic Gdańsk Agreement between striking workers and the government in 1980, and the establishment of the Solidarność (Solidarity) trade union. Solidarność quickly grew to amass a membership of ten million, laying the groundwork for Wałęsa’s future in politics.
Coldstore Gdańsk CEO Maciej Kisiel and Lech Wałęsa.