Obama holds talks with Central, Eastern European leaders

Central and Eastern European countries' leaders attend a meeting with President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski and US President Barack Obama in Warsaw, June 3, 2014. A meeting of the presidents of Poland and the United States -- Bronislaw Komorowski and Barack Obama -- with Central and Eastern European countries' leaders was held on Tuesday at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.[Photo/Xinhua]

WARSAW - US President Barack Obama has arrived in Warsaw to take part in the Freedom Day celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of Poland's first partly-free elections, held June 4, 1989.

Having held talks with Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk and attended a meeting of 17 Central and Eastern European heads of states and governments, Obama will address guests in Warsaw's Castle Square on Wednesday.

Ukraine's President-elect Petro Poroshenko has also arrived in Warsaw and is meeting Komorowski late Tuesday evening, before holding talks with the US president on Wednesday.

Obama has met with US airmen based in Poland and their Polish colleagues and talked about security in the region, saying, "Our involvement in the safety of Poland and other allies in Central Europe is the cornerstone of our own safety. As allies and friends we stand united together, forever." Komorowski also referred to Polish-American relations as brothers in arms.

After meeting with the US president, Premier Tusk said that Polish-American relations continue to be good and are of "fundamental" importance, and thanked Obama for the United States' rapid and "very effective" reaction to the Ukrainian crisis.

Obama echoed that Poland and the United States were united in their readiness to support Ukrainians on matters of "territorial integrity and security," as well as possible economic reforms.

After the morning meeting with Komorowski, Obama also talked about the sanctions imposed on Russia, saying, "Russia has broken the rules and we will uphold our sanctions connected with the illegal annexation of Crimea. We are prepared to impose economic costs on Russia." He also promised to petition US congress for 1 billion US dollars to strengthen the United States' military presence in the region.

Later in the day, Obama and Komorowski held talks with Central and Eastern European leaders at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw over a broad range of issues, including the Ukraine crisis, security in the region and energy security, according to the President's Chancellery.

Invitations to the meeting were extended to the presidents of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia -- all of them NATO members.

In his opening speech, President Bronislaw Komorowski said, "Security, like freedom, are not granted forever. They must be constantly nurtured, constantly strengthened."

In his address, Obama said that the US "stood shoulder to shoulder" with its NATO allies and assured the gathered leaders that "no-one will take away what you have built in the past 25 years."

Previous Page 1 2 Next Page

Previous Page 1 2 Next Page