DEBLIN, Poland, April 18 (Reuters) - Poland wrapped up eastern Europe's largest arms deal ever on Friday to buy Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets for $3.5 billion and secure billions of dollars in reciprocal investment. Polish and U.S. officials and Lockheed representatives signed three agreements -- a final purchase agreement for 48 planes, a preferential U.S. government loan and a $6.3 billion package of "offset" investments. The deal, under discussion since an initial agreement late in 2002, is a key part of NATO-member Poland's drive to beef up its armed forces, and the government is banking on investment to boost the high-tech sector and cut high unemployment.
"We are opening a new phase in Polish-American relations...not only in the political and military sense, but also economic," Prime Minister Leszek Miller said at the signing ceremony in the south-eastern town of Deblin.
Investments confirmed on Friday included a project by General Motors to upgrade its Polish plant, which GM earlier said would raise annual exports by $200 million to about $600 million.
Listed Polish software firms Computerland and Prokom are also part of the offset deal, but details and actual investment amounts are not yet known.
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