Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek said Poland has started preparing for European Union accession talks - the final stage of negotiations on EU expansion - which should start by March 1998.

"We have to prepare so we can take full advantage of joining the EU and boosting the country's economic development," Buzek told reporters after the first meeting of the new Committee for European Integration (KIE). Poland has to negotiate certain conditions to help it adapt to EU regulations, Buzek said.