Canada-Poland Relations

Strona www: www.international.gc.ca/experience

Dział: praca.studentnews.pl

Canada and Poland enjoy close bilateral relations, including growth in trade and investments, increasing military co-operation and academic relations programmes. Canada is home to a vibrant community of over 980,000 Polish-Canadians. Since 2008, Poles can travel to Canada visa-free with their e-passports, further expanding people-to-people ties among our citizens.

In 2009, two important agreements between Canada and Poland came into force- the Social Security Agreement, which coordinates pension benefits between the two countries, and the Youth Mobility Agreement, which allows youth from Canada and Poland to travel and work in the other country for up to one year.

Trade and Investment

Poland and Canada enjoy excellent trade relations, with Poland being Canada's largest merchandise trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2009, the value of bilateral trade was $989.5 million. Canadian exports to Poland were at $236.4 million and included primarily machinery, electrical and electronic equipment, mineral ores, scientific and precision instruments, and vehicles. Canadian imports from Poland were valued at $753.1 million in 2009, with top sectors being machinery, furniture and bedding, aircraft and spacecraft products, and electrical machinery.

EU membership, coupled with Poland’s resilience to the recent global economic slowdown, makes it an attractive investment destination for Canadian companies. Canadian cumulative direct investment in Poland totaled $295 million in 2008. Major Canadian investors in Poland include such companies as Pratt&Whitney Canada and Bombardier Transportation.

Military Cooperation

In February 1998, Canada was the first North-Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) country to ratify Polish accession to the North Atlantic Alliance. Since then Canada has become a leader among NATO countries in language and peacekeeping training in Poland, with hundreds of Polish officers and senior general staff having received training in Canada and Poland.

Multilateral Cooperation

Canada and Poland cooperate closely also through multilateral inititives as valuable partners in the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization, Canada-EU relations and across a wide range of United Nations organizations and initiatives, including the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Academic and Cultural Cooperation

There are seven Canadian Studies programmes in Polish universities that conduct research, offer courses and organise conferences on Canada. Some have extensive library holdings and are a rich source of information for Polish students, researchers, academics and the general public. Canada and Poland are also seeing rapid growth in our cultural relations. Canadian artists, from Leonard Cohen and Diana Krall to Angela Hewitt and Avril Lavigne, entertain regularly in Polish cities.

In Poland, Canada is represented by the Embassy of Canada in Warsaw.

Poland is represented in Canada by an Embassy in Ottawa. Poland also has consulates in Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.

ostatnia zmiana: 2011-01-17