Talks under way for Polish president to meet Trump later this year: aide

Krzysztof Szczerski, chief of staff to President Andrzej Duda, denied reports that arrangements were being made for the Polish head of state to meet Trump during a visit to the United Nations in New York in May.

Such a meeting is not planned, Szczerski told public broadcaster Polish Radio, but talks are ongoing for a meeting of both leaders at a later date this year, he said.

Israeli president expected to visit Poland in April

Szczerski also said that preparations were in progress for Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin to visit Poland in April.

An Israeli delegation led by Rivlin is expected to arrive in Poland in mid-April for the annual March of the Living, Szczerski told Polish Radio 1 in an interview.

The planned visit comes amid tensions between the two countries over a new Polish anti-defamation law that criminalises blaming Poland for Nazi German atrocities.

"We have had signals that the Israeli president wants to bring along a larger delegation, one including government officials, which would mean a return to contacts at the highest level,” Szczerski said.

The announcement comes after the new Polish regulations, which could impose a jail term on anyone who accuses the country of being complicit in Nazi German crimes, triggered anger in Israel and a warning from the United States.

In Poland, the new rules are seen as a way of stamping out the use of historically inaccurate terms such as “Polish death camps,” which many say imply Polish involvement in the Holocaust and German Nazi crimes during World War II.

(gs/pk)

Source: IAR