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SV: Edward Gierek, accompanied by President Giscard d'Estaing, meeting French officials
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SV: President Giscard speaking in English
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SV: Mrs Gierek and Madam Giscard (TWO SHOTS)
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SCU: Gierek speaking in Polish
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GV: Gierek and Giscard shaking hands, being applauded by officials
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Mr. Gierek will follow up his talks in Paris with a meeting in the Polish capital of Warsaw next week with West German chancellor, Helmut Schmidt, before the East-West conference resumes in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, on October 4. The conference will review progress in East-West detente since the 1975 Helsinki agreement.




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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Polish Communist leader Edward Gierek arrived in Paris, France, on Monday (12 September) on a three-day official visit. Immediately, he began talks with French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing on East-West detente and world nuclear disarmament.

SYNOPSIS: Mr. Gierek was received with full military honours when he arrived at Orly airport. He was greeted by President Giscard, who stressed the friendship and co-operation between France and Poland. In a welcoming address, the French leader said both the countries wanted to make detente in Europe "irreversible." In his reply Mr. Gierek said that despite their different systems of government and alliances, France and Poland had found ways of co-operation.

Mr. Gierek and President Giscard then flew into Paris by helicopter for the first of three rounds of talks. The Polish leader was later entertained at a banquet given by the President at his official residence, the Elysee Palace. President Giscard told his guests that France and Poland wished to be in the forefront of effort to strengthen detente in Europe. "It is only by instituting between all European states a free and open dialogue and by promoting a climate of moderation and mutual tolerance that we shall create conditions for a lasting peace," he said.

Mr. Gierek said he welcomed agreements on nuclear non-proliferation signed by the French President and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev last June. For a long time, he said, Poland attached great importance to this question and fully saw the threats that a proliferation of such arms could cause, particularly in Europe.