Poland's new president to visit Estonia in 1st foreign trip

WARSAW — Poland's new conservative president will make his first foreign trip to Estonia, followed by visits to Berlin, London and New York, where he will meet with President Barack Obama, a top official said yesterday.

Choosing one of the Baltic states for his first trip underlines President Andrzej Duda's intention to strengthen Poland's alliances with other Central and Eastern European nations in a bid to give a strong voice to a region that is nervous about neighboring Russia's resurgence.

Notably absent from his first round of travels are Paris and Brussels, traditional first destinations for Polish leaders.

Talks are underway over the timing of these visits, but their absence now demonstrates Duda's plans to shift away from the mainstream of the 28-nation European Union. Duda, who took office Aug.6, believes that Poland has been too deeply immersed in EU policy.

Also notable is no date for a Vatican visit by the Catholic president.

Duda's foreign policy adviser, Krzysztof Szczerski, said the visit to Tallinn, Estonia, on Sunday comes on an anniversary of the 1939 pact between Nazi Germany and Russia that led to the invasion of Poland and to World War II and will underscore the need for stability in Eastern Europe.

The Berlin visit is set for Aug. 28 and London for Sept. 15.

The conservative Law and Justice party that backs Duda has sometimes been skeptical of Germany's intentions toward Poland, and Duda wants to recalibrate ties in order to make Warsaw's voice stronger.

"Germany remains our strategic partner as our neighbor and we want good relations," Szczerski said.

Through his visits, Duda wants to improve Poland's security and economic interests. In November, in Bucharest, he will discuss the region's security expectations from next year's NATO summit, and in China, he will seek closer economic ties.

During New York visit from Sept. 26-29, he will meet with Obama and other non-European leaders.