Armenian President Arrives In Poland After Promising Troops To Iraq

Agence France Presse
Sept 5 2004

WARSAW, Sept 5 (AFP) – The president of Armenia, which is to contribute
troops to the Polish-led multinational force patrolling central and
southern Iraq, arrived in Poland on Sunday for a three-day official
visit.

During the visit by President Robert Kocharian, Armenia and Poland
are expected to sign a bilateral military cooperation agreement.

Polish Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski announced on Friday that
the former Soviet republic of Armenia was to send 50 soldiers to the
6,500-strong multinational force that Poland commands in Iraq.

Armenia is to send “several dozen military personnel, specialists in
logistics, bomb disposal experts and doctors” to Iraq in late November
or early December, Polish deputy chief of staff, General Mieczyslaw
Cieniuch, said on Friday.

The Polish government has been a key US ally in Iraq but it has faced
strong domestic public opposition to the deployment of its troops
in Iraq and is now planning to significantly reduce its 2,500-strong
contingent there.

Kocharian was met in the northern port city of Gdansk on Sunday by
his Polish counterpart Aleksander Kwasniewski. The two heads of
state visited the historic part of the city before travelling to
Kwasniewski’s residence in Jurata, a resort on the Baltic coast.