French President Jacques Chirac and visiting Polish President Lech Kaczynski expressed Friday their will to improve bilateral ties.

Kaczynski noted outside the French presidency that he was happy and satisfied.

"I'd like to underline the great openness and very warm and very sympathetic atmosphere" of the meeting, the Polish president said.

His visit to France is among his first trips abroad, after Washington, Vatican and Prague, since he came into office in December.

In 2003 when Poland backed the US invasion of Iraq, Chirac said that Poland and other new EU members "had missed a good occasion to keep quiet". The remark triggered a wave of anger in Poland at French arrogance.

Kaczynski said that his French counterpart Chirac's remark was "clumsy" but was "no longer problem" and two leaders set the seal on improved Franco-Polish relations.

He said that he had mentioned the delicate problems of the opening of the labor market to the new EU members with French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin late Friday afternoon.

The French president said for his part that he was sensitive that "Paris was one of (Kaczynski's) first foreign destinations since becoming president", according to Chirac's spokesman Jerome Bonnafont.

"It is a gesture to which I am sensitive as all the French people, for France is a friend of Poland and France has some exceptional human ties with this country," he said.

Chirac hoped in particular to reinforce the economic ties between France and Poland.

Analysts said that bilateral relations began to improve last year due to a convergence of views over reform of the EU budget and the importance of protecting farming.

Source: Xinhua