President Obama walks down the steps from Air Force One in Warsaw. photo - PAP
Air Force One landed at 17.30 local time, 20 minutes ahead of schedule. President Obama had flown in from France where he had attended a G8 summit.
Waiting for him on the tarmac were Jacek Michałowski from the Presidential Chancellery and Deputy Foreign Minister Jacek Najder.
The US president was driven straight from the airport to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Pilsudski Square and then on to pay respects at the monument to those who took part in the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto Uprising against German Nazi occupiers during WW II.
President Obama will then go on to have a working dinner with presidents from around the region who have been taking part in the Central European summit, where he will be greeted by Poland’s head of state, Bronislaw Komorowski.
On Saturday, President Obama, on his first ever visit to Poland, will be having talks with leaders from all major political parties in Poland including Prime Minister Donald Tusk (see Obama’s full schedule here).
Security
Large sections of Warsaw’s roads have been shut to the public during Obama’s two-day stay, amid what is an unprecedented security operation in the Polish capital.
Almost all crossroads and routes on the way to the airport were being patrolled by police as the motorcade sped by, Friday evening. Military and police helicopters flew over the capital.
“This is due to security reasons - the city has to be functioning on special alert,” said spokesman for Warsaw Police HQ Maciej Karczynski.
“Drivers have to be cautious and aware of special road signs as well as limited parking spaces. Police are obliged to tow away all cars which have violated parking restrictions,” he added.
Shale gas, Afghanistan, F-16s
Prime Minister Tusk indicated that low down on the list of things on the agenda for talks with President Obama is the thorny subject of Poles still having to obtain visas before they travel to the US.
Tusk said that the number of Poles wanting to work in the US has fallen dramatically since Poland joined the EU in 2004.
“There is a huge number of labour markets open to Poles; the unemployment rate in Poland is not much higher than that in the US. We are not faced with the problem of hundreds of thousands of Poles wanting to leave for the USA. [For those that do want to go to America] the visa issue is their main obstacle. So if Americans decide to include Poland in the visa free scheme then this is fine, but we will definitely not be pushing for it.”
More pressing issues for talks between the two sides are Poland’s participation in Afghanistan and NATO, F-16s and American troops being stationed in Poland and trade relations, particularly the exploration of shale gas.
President Obama will be leaving Poland on Saturday evening to return to the US after visiting Ireland, UK and France. (pg/ab)