Immigration has changed the relationship between Norway and Poland

NATO-Summit, trade and hundreds of thousands of Polish immigrants are on the agenda when Poland’s president comes to Norway and meet Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

President Andrzej Duda is officially invited by King Harald and the State visit is from Monday to Wednesday.

Together with the King shall Duda visit The Norwegian Joint Headquarters at Reitan and the memorial in Narvik to commemorate the Poles who died in Norway during WWII.

Many political issues will be discussed when the president meets Solberg in Oslo Monday afternoon. Security policy, defense and the NATO summit in the Polish capital Warsaw in July, are some of the important topics.

They will also talk about relations with Russia,which both countries are very concerned about, says researcher Jakub M. Godzimirski at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) to the news agency NTB.

The extensive labor immigration from Poland will also be a theme at the meeting. In Norway. There are over one hundred thousand Poles and people with Polish background who are living in our country, and they are our largest immigrant group.

In second place are immigrants with a background from Lithuania, which amounts to around 40,000 people. About as many have background from Somalia and Sweden.

-The scope of the immigration from Poland to Norway has created a completely new situation and changed the relationship between the countries, “said Godzimirski, who also is Polish.

In addition, the trade between the countries is increasing, and Poland is considered as one of Norway’s ten main trading partners. Last year, it exported more Norwegian fish to Poland than to any other country.

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today