Remarks With Polish Foreign Minister Stefan Meller Before Their Meeting

SECRETARY RICE: I would like to welcome my colleague Polish Foreign Minister Meller. We've met on a couple of occasions, including most recently in Brussels at the NATO summit -- NATO ministerial. I just wanted to say that of course Poland is a great friend of the United States, a strategic partner of the United States and an inspiration to people around the world who are still seeking freedom.

Everybody remembers the struggle of the Polish people for freedom, the dignity with which they held to the values of freedom and liberty in even the darkest times. And to now have a free Poland emerge as a member of NATO, a member of the European Union, it is really a great story that is inspirational. But it goes beyond inspiration. We work together on many, many issues and we have the best of relations.

So thank you very much for visiting. I look forward to our discussions.

FOREIGN MINISTER MELLER: Thank you very much, Secretary Rice. I appreciate very much this opportunity to do that. And I would like to present the Polish approach of our foreign policy and I will try to present the ideas, the Polish ideas, on the relations between our ally, the United States, and I hope that we talk about the Polish intention in our foreign policy.

I will present our position on Iraq where we (inaudible) after the election in Iraq. We can discuss the problem. I think that I will talk the concern of (inaudible) reinforcement of our relations and how we can improve it. And finally, I think that we can make an approach to the global policy, the international situation and the Polish neighborhood. I'm very happy. Thank you very much.

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you very much.
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