Polish PM visits Iraq, meets with Iraqi premier

Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Wednesday and met with top Iraqi officials, including Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Kaczynski, whose country has 900 soldiers in Iraq, arrived in Baghdad in the morning and traveled to the Green Zone, Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Robert Szaniawski said in Warsaw. The heavily fortified area on the banks of the Tigris River in central Baghdad is where Iraq's government meets and the US and British embassies are located. During his meeting with Kaczynski, al-Maliki said his country is interested in boosting its relations with Poland, al-Maliki's office said in a release. Al-Maliki considered the visit an attempt to "enhance the cooperation between the countries," the statement said.