Egypt
Diplomatic relations between Poland and Egypt were established in 1927.
Political cooperation
Historical view
Since establishment of permanent diplomatic relations in 1927 Egypt has been a longstanding partner of Poland in the Middle East. Between 1973 and 1980 Polish forces took part in the UNEF mission on Sinai Peninsula.
Over the years, Poland has concluded a number of bilateral agreements with Egypt, regulating a wide spectrum of mutual relations, from the air transport agreement of February 1956 to the economic cooperation agreement of May 2022.
Political cooperation after 1989
President Lech Wałęsa paid an official visit to Egypt in the spring 1992. Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak visited Poland in March 2008.
In 2022, President Andrzej Duda visited Egypt twice: at the turn of June and July as part of an official state visit, and in November as a participant in the COP27 climate summit held in Sharm el-Sheikh.
In addition, mutual working visits at the ministerial and parliamentary level take place periodically.
Economic cooperation
Trade exchange between Poland and Egypt is systematically growing. In 2022, it reached record 900 mln USD . The most frequently exported Polish products are agri-food products, a large part of which are apples, cereal, flour and and dairy products. The second category of exports to Egypt are machines and mechanical and electrical devices as well as household appliances. Next places are occupied by products of the metal industry, plastic products and goods of the chemical industry, including cosmetics.
Polish imports from Egypt are dominated by textile materials and products, products of plant origin as well as plastic and base metal products.
Polish entrepreneurs are interested in the development of commercial cooperation with Egyptian partners representing branches such as: tourism, construction, IT, natural resource exploration and railway infrastructure industries. There are Polish companies operating in Egypt, providing services in the oil and gas sector. The possibilities of cooperation in the areas of supply of complete production lines, transfer of technological ideas, the electro-energy industry and agri-food processing are being probed.
Links
Zagraniczne Biuro Handlowe Kair
The Egyptian Polish Businessmen Association (EPBA)
Alexandria Business Association (ABA)
Cultural cooperation
The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Cairo is active in the field of public and cultural diplomacy, popularizing and promoting our country by means of artistic expression. As part of this activity, several or a dozen events are organized annually, either independently by the Embassy or in cooperation with Polish, local and international partners. They consist of concerts of classical and popular music, film screenings, exhibitions of fine arts and photography, theater and dance activities, and others.
An important event was the exhibition of paintings by artists who were in Egypt during WWII as soldiers of the army of General Władysław Anders (including Józef Jarema and Edward Matuszczak). The paintings had been previously restored by specialists of the National Museum in Warsaw. Its vernissage at the Museum of Fine Arts in Alexandria in November 2022 was attended, among others, by Minister Jaroslaw Sellin.
The flagship project of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Cairo is the Chopin Piano Competition for Children and Youth in Egypt, organized every two years in cooperation with the RAHN Foundation. The last edition took place in 2023, the next one is planned on 2025.
Cooperation in the field of science
Significant place in mutual relations is occupied by archaeological cooperation. Since the 1960s, the Research Station of the Center for Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Warsaw has been operating in Cairo, continuing research initiated by Professor Kazimierz Michałowski even before World War II.