Poland, US to discuss Poland's security

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-18 01:46

Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Thursday confirmed he discussed increasing Poland's security with Barack Obama in light of the US President's decision to abandon plans for a missile shield in the country.

Tusk said the US decision would not impair Poland's security and that there were good chances for "closer Polish-US defense cooperation" in the near future.

He said his talks with Obama had "deeply satisfied" him and Poland "had chances to attain a very exclusive position" in relations with the United States.

He added that Obama had assured him that negotiations around the shield project had "strengthened the friendship between Poland and the US".

Obama on Thursday announced the controversial missile defense shield program in Eastern Europe was to be abandoned, saying a "new approach" would deploy "proven and cost effective" technologies against a missile threat from Iran.

Under the Polish-US accord signed last year, 10 ground base interceptors were to be installed in Redzikowo, northern Poland, as part of a larger system that would include a radar system in the Czech Republic, to counter Tehran's emerging long-range-missile program.

The US plan angered Russia, which deemed it a serious threat to its national security and warned that it would deploy a short-range missile system in its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad bordering Poland in response to the US plan.