Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, a holding company comprised of Poland's state-owned defense companies, has hired New York-based lobbying firm Park Strategies to promote the U.S and Poland’s bilateral relations and communicate with Washington the current defense objectives of that country.

Polska Grupa ZbrojeniowaPark Strategies will represent the Warsaw-based, government-sponsored corporation, which includes about 60 companies operating in Poland’s dense, aerospace and military technologies sectors, for purpose of promoting U.S. support for Poland and the security initiatives of its military.

The scope of the work includes arranging meetings with key Congressional staff of defense and foreign relations committees to establish a dialogue on the need to increase NATO defense objectives and assist Poland's strategic initiatives, engaging with the U.S. defense community to promote greater collaboration on military matters, and leveraging media interviews and meetings with U.S.-based international organizations to present the point of view of the Polish government and its current defense needs.

Warsaw in recent years has requested that the U.S. government bolster its military presence in eastern Europe and supply more NATO troops, spurred, in part, by Russia’s push into Ukraine and a recent increase of Russian military operations along its western border, moves that have caused tension with neighboring Poland.

NATO, drawing criticism from Moscow, erected its latest European defense system in Romania this week. A second missile-defense base is also planned to break ground in Poland, followed by major military exercises to begin in that country sometime this spring.

Poland's President, Andrzej Duda, also recently drew international criticism in national security matters when he rejected the European Union’s proposal of compulsory migrant quotas that would distribute asylum seekers from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq to various EU member states.

Duda, who assumed office in August, is affiliated with the Law and Justice Party, Poland's national-conservative party that won parliamentary elections in October and controversially reformed Poland’s constitution and later appointed state heads of public TV and radio.

Park Strategies will also assist PGZ in the biannual July NATO summit to be held in Warsaw, which will be attended by President Barack Obama and other world leaders. Poland plans to propose an increase in its financial commitments to NATO during that meeting. Duda in April kicked off a series of foreign visits in preparation for the summit.

Per the terms of the contract, PGZ will pay Park Strategies $15,000 per month for the work. The pact was signed by Park Strategies executive VP, partner and managing director Christopher D’Amato.

Park Strategies was founded by former New York Republican Senator Al D’Amato.