WARSAW, Poland (AP) — First lady Melania Trump introduced her husband to an enthusiastic crowd in Warsaw on Thursday, her most prominent moment in a short trip to the Polish capital that also included a visit to a science center.

The first lady said that guaranteeing the "security" of the American people was the centerpiece of President Donald Trump's administration and that she hoped all people around the world should also be allowed to "live their lives without fear."

She also touted a tour she took earlier in the day at a science center nearby in Warsaw where people came "to observe, experiment, to ask questions and seek answers," which she said should inspire people in both the United States and Poland.

Melania Trump, who is taking a prominent role in her husband's overseas trip, also saluted the Polish people and their "special country" before the president gave a speech focusing heavily on Poland's fight for freedom from the brutal German Nazi occupation of the country during World War II.

Mrs. Trump began her official duties on Thursday at the Belvedere palace, a white building fronted with four columns in the neo-Classical style, where the Poland's first lady, Agata Kornhauser-Duda, 45, welcomed her for tea.

Both first ladies then visited the Copernicus Science Center, an interactive science museum geared to young people.

There Mrs. Trump observed children at work on different projects. At one point she used a tablet as a remote control to operate a small robot, asking a boy if he wanted to race their robots.

At a separate work station, a girl presented Mrs. Trump with a small pink shoe produced by a 3-D printer.

Mrs. Trump smiled and spoke warmly to the children, putting her arms around them at times. Some of the younger ones, however, seemed more taken by their computer tablets than either of the first ladies.