Just three days after being sworn in as head of state, president of Germany Joachim Gauck and his partner Daniela Schadt will arrive in Warsaw this evening for talks with President Komorowski.

photo - EPA/Jan Woitas

Spokesman for the Polish president, Jaromir Sokolowski, has said that the choice of Poland for the new German president's first trip abroad was a “symbolic gesture” and will last two days.

The two heads of state will discuss “bilateral relations, European issues and shared values,” Sokolowski said.

Gauck will begin his visit with a gala dinner at the Presidential Palace. On Tuesday, he will have talks with Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

A former Lutheran pastor, the 72 year-old Gauck first came to political prominence as an anti-communist activist in the then communist East Germany.

During the 1990s he led the Federal Commission for Stasi Archives, which recorded crimes made against the German people by the communist authorities.

He was selected by lawmakers to become president of Germany after the resignation of Christian Wulff in February after allegations of corruption were made, relating to his time as prime minister of Lower Saxony. (pg)