John Kerry goes walkabout in Warsaw
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
05.11.2013 13:15
US secretary of state John Kerry took a stroll around the streets of Warsaw on Tuesday, in between talks with Poland’s foreign and prime ministers.
John Kerry at a bakery in Warsaw, Tuesday: photo - PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Accompanied by American ambassador in Poland Stephen Mull, Secretary Kerry surprised Varsovians going about their normal business when he entered a café and a bakery, where he bought a sandwich and two cakes, and chatted with a group of elementary school kids.
Some of the locals recognized the US secretary of state – in Poland for trade and defence talks - though reporters heard one middle aged man saying: “Who’s that guy with the bodyguards?”
Another woman stuck her head out of a window and shouted, “Hello Mr Kerry”.
US secretary of state goes walkabout: photo - PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Earlier at a press conference alongside Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, John Kerry said that the US intends to install a revised missile defence shield in Poland “by 2018”.
“This plan has not changed and I do not expect it to change,” he added.
The Polish government was surprised in 2009 when President Obama announced that he was scrapping a Bush-era plan to install 10 long-range missile interceptors on Polish territory and accounced a new more mobile missile shield in its place.
Kerry praised Poland’s economic performance and influence since the fall of communism in 1989.
"In less than 25 years, the Polish nation has transformed itself into an economic power and Poland’s influence is felt throughout the transatlantic community,” he said.
Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that Tuesday’s talks "confirm good strategic relations between the US and Poland".
When asked by journalists about the revelations that the US’s NSA had been tapping into European leaders’ telephone conversations, Sikorski would only mention “further consultations between our intelligence services to help fight a common enemy,” while Kerry said that it was important to maintain a balance between citizens’ “privacy and protection”.
Poland is the only European country that Kerry is visiting while on a tour of mainly Middle East and North African nations. (pg)
Source: PAP/IAR