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WARSAW -- Poland's new premier, Donald Tusk, said Tuesday that his nation would drop its opposition to Russia opening membership talks with a leading international economic group, a step aimed at improving strained ties between the two nations.
"Today, I told the Russian Federation that Poland is lifting its blockade of moving to membership negotiations" with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Tusk told reporters.
"This news was accepted with a lot of satisfaction by our Russian partners, and will cause, I'm certain, an acceleration of talks and actions by both sides to improve ties."
But Tusk also stressed that Russia would still have to fulfill all criteria for joining the OECD.
Poland Backs Russia for OECD
28 November 2007
The Associated Press
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