WARSAW: US President Barack Obama on his first visit to Poland joined Friday the leaders of ex-communist states gathered for talks on the lessons that their two decades of reform could offer the Arab Spring. “We have taken great inspiration from the blossoming of freedom and economic growth in this region and we're confident that will continue,” Obama told reporters before the dinner. He also stressed that it was in Washington's interest to be part of strengthening democracy and the free market in the eastern and central European region which remains an important partner. Earlier, Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski said the key question was: “How can we support democratic transformation in our region and beyond it, in the neighbourhood of the European Union both to the east and to the south?” Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, senior director for European affairs at the US National Security Council, underlined the role reform-oriented ex-communist states can play elsewhere. “One of the themes of our administration is that these countries that moved along towards democracy at the end of the Cold War have great experience to share with those countries that have not yet made that transition,” she said. On Saturday Obama was scheduled to hold talks with Komorowski and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. -Agence France
