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SV INT E. German President Erich Honecker meeting Polish Party leader Kania (3 shots)
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SV Honecker and Kania seated talking
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SV Honecker & Kania continuing talks
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Poland's Communist Party leader, Stanislaw Kania, paid a surprise visit to East Germany on Tuesday (17 February) for talks with President Erich Honecker. They met near East Berlin in what was described as a 'friendly atmosphere'. It was Mr. Kania's second visit to a neighbouring Eastern Bloc country in three days.

SYNOPSIS: Officials in East Germany did not disclose the location of the talks. East Berlin Radio said the two men had met 'near Berlin', and pictures from East German Television showed them is the lounge of a hunting lodge. The trip came only two days after Poland's leader visited Czechoslovakia.

Diplomats in Warsaw, quoted by Reuters news agency, said Mr. Kania appeared to be undertaking a concerted campaign to demonstrate that Poland was regaining stability after months of turmoil. His visits followed the appointment last week of Army General Wojciech Jaruzelski to the post of Prime Minister, a move welcomed by Poland's allies and the country's independent trade unions.

General Jaruzelski proposed a 90-day moratorium on strikes, and on Tuesday night the government agreed to register an independent union for the country's striking students.