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Deutsche Welle

In a bid to strengthen Germany's ties with its eastern neighbors, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle chose Warsaw as the destination of his first official state visit on Saturday. Following a two-hour meeting with his counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski, Westerwelle said that deepening relations with Poland would be one his "core concerns".

He told journalists after the meeting that a strong friendship between the two countries was not only good for the people of Germany and Poland, but good for the whole of Europe, adding that it was his intention to make the partnership with Poland as strong as it is with Germany's western neighbors.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  Westerwelle and Sikorski underlined the importance of their countries' partnership to the whole of Europe

German-Polish relations at their strongest ever

Sikorski received the new foreign minister enthusiastically, saying that relations between Germany and Poland were currently better than they'd ever been in history.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski also received Westerwelle on Saturday afternoon, showing him the room where representatives of Poland's communist regime had negotiated with the democratic opposition in 1989. A German diplomat called the mini-tour "a personal gesture" of the president. Kaczynski has previously expressed concern about Germany's dominance in the European Union.

Looking East first

The visit to Poland comes as something of a surprise, since previous German foreign ministers have generally traveled westward to Paris first on their debut trips. But Chancellor Angela Merkel's new government, sworn in on Wednesday, have emphasized the importance of Polish-German ties.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  Westerwelle took over from his election opponent Frank-Walter Steinmeier last week

Westerwelle had announced on Thursday that he would pay special attention to strengthening relations with Germany's eastern European neighbors. "This is not by chance. It shows our desire for good neighborly relations with our eastern neighbor," Westerwelle said.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said it was a "very good sign" that Westerwelle's first state visit was to Poland. "Poland and Germany are well aware that bilateral relations are very good," Tusk said, "We must do all we can to make them even better."

Tusk and Westerwelle met in Brussels during the EU summit on Thursday and Friday.

sjt/AP/Reuters/dpa
Editor: Kyle James