Obama hails Poland as "example" for the region

May 28, 2011, 11:03 GMT

Warsaw - Poland is a leader and an example for the eastern European region because of its combined economic and democratic success, US President Barack Obama said Saturday in Warsaw after a meeting with his Polish counterpart Bronislaw Komorowski.

'I look forward to an EU presidency for Poland,' Obama said during his second day in the Polish capital. Warsaw takes over the rotating EU presidency for the second half of 2011.

Obama also stressed it was Poland's role to show nations like Ukraine, which may one day join the European Union, the road to democracy and democratic reforms.

The US president also criticized neighbouring Belarus, were political opponents of President Alexsander Lukashenko have been beaten up and imprisoned.

He added that it was important to help Belarus to build a democratic society. The kind of 'repressive action seen in Belarus' could influence the whole region and make it less secure, Obama said.

The visit was seen as a bid by the US to reassure Warsaw of its position as one of Washington's senior allies in the region.

Obama was expected during his visit to reiterate America's intention to move some 16 of the F-16s from a US military base in Italy to central Poland, to be stationed there from 2013 on a rotating basis.

Poland is already hosting a US Patriot missile battery. Warsaw's decision to host the system caused tensions with Moscow, who claimed the system was aimed at Russia and not - as the US has said - against Iran.

Obama reiterated Saturday that the missile defense system was something that the US and Russia should cooperate on.

Obama was to later meet with Prime Minister Donald Tusk on what was the final stop of the week-long European tour he began Monday in Ireland.

Before departing Warsaw, Obama was slated to lay a wreath at a monument commemorating the victims of a plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others in Russia in April 2010.

Obama met with Poles who had played a crucial role in toppling Communism in 1989, including activists from the labour union Solidarity.

But Lech Walesa, the founder of Solidarity, said Friday he would not attend the meeting because his schedule was full.

'I really don't have time for photos,' Walesa told broadcaster TVP on Saturday, adding that the meeting was unlikely to bring anything concrete.

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