Bush praises Poland for democratic and economic progress since 1989

US President George W. Bush praised Poland on Friday for the progress it has made in building democracy and a free market economy since the fall of communism in 1989. Bush said it was no coincidence that he had chosen to visit Warsaw on his first trip to Europe as president. "I came here to show nations which are hungry for democracy, or striving for democracy, or looking at democracy, what's possible," Bush told reporters after a meeting with President Aleksander Kwasniewski. During the meeting, the Polish president expressed support for Bush's proposed anti-missile defense shield, a plan that has received a less enthusiastic reception among Western European leaders during their talks in Brussels. The two presidents also discussed the further eastward expansion of NATO, which in Bush's words, is only a matter of time. During the visit, the two countries also signed a trade liberalization agreement, under which Bush promised to ask the US Congress to grant Poland general customs preferences, while Poland committed itself to suspending customs duties on US goods worth some $100 million. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 1, Reuters) T.J.