Sweden
Diplomatic relations between Poland and Kingdom of Sweden were established on August 2, 1919.
Political cooperation
Historical view
Geographic location of both countries by the Baltic Sea has had impact on frequency of Polish-Swedish contacts. Due to close ties, Poland and Sweden were for a short time connected by a personal union. However, both countries had waged wars over centuries of common history. The most important was the so called Swedish flood in the seventeenth century. Even though in eighteenth century both countries had faced the threat from East, they had been involved in the so called northern war. After regaining its independence, Poland has been recognised by Sweden. Consequently, both countries had established diplomatic relations.
Political cooperation after 1989
Since 1989 we can observe increase of bilateral contacts. Considering their intensity, the heads of Polish and Swedish governments in 2008 raised their level to the rank of structural dialogue. While on May 4th, 2011 Foreign Ministers signed the Declaration on political cooperation between Poland and Sweden in strategic areas. The cooperation of both countries is focused on European policy, security and defence policy, energy and climate, trade, investments, future of the Baltic Sea region. Today, Polish-Swedish relations have multidimensional character. The main fields of cooperation are: EU, Baltic cooperation, including NB8+V4. In Polish Sejm a Polish-Swedish friendship group has been established.
Economic cooperation
The most important bilateral agreements that may have significance for economic cooperation between Poland and Sweden are: Agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of investments (1989), the Convention on the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax evasion with respect to taxes on income (2004), Agreement on cooperation in combating serious crime (2005), Agreement on mutual protection of classified information (2007). It should be noted that both Sweden and Poland, as member states of the European Union, co-create the EU internal market and are subject to EU regulations in this area. In January-September 2018 an increase in trade between PL and SE was recorded in comparison to the analogous period of 2017. The volume of mutual turnover in this period is estimated at approx. PLN 31.990 billion (increase by 3.5%). in the comparable period of the previous year). The value of Polish exports to the Swedish market in this period amounted to approx. PLN 18.950 billion. This means an increase in export dynamics - 3.3%. The growth trend was also indicated by imports from SE, which amounted to PLN 13.039 billion. However, the dynamics of imports was slightly faster than in the case of exports - an increase of 7.6%. PL maintained a surplus in trade with SE in the discussed period PLN 5.91 billion.
Links
Polsko-Szewcka Izba Handlu
Skandynawsko-Polska Izba Gospodarcza (SPCC)
Business Sweden
Polsko-Szwedzka Izba Gospodarcza
Cultural cooperation
Cultural cooperation carried out by the Polish Institute in Stockholm, founded in 1974, on the basis of an ordinance of the Minister of Foreign Affairs No. 21 (from 1973). The most important tasks: Building the image of Poland, comprehensive information to the Swedish citizens about Poland's achievements in the field of political, social, cultural and scientific life. Developing and deepening friendly Polish-Swedish relations, especially in the field of economic, scientific and cultural cooperation.
Links
Cooperation in the field of science
Poland is one of the most popular countries for Swedish high school graduates taking into account studying abroad in the fields of medicine and veterinary. In the academic year 2016/2017, the number of Swedish students in Poland amounted to 1242. At the same time, Sweden is one of the most popular directions for Polish students in Socrates – Erasmus program (Lund, Uppsala, Stockholm). In Sweden there are two universities which have a Polish faculty (Stockholm University and Uppsala University). 66 students studied in this field in 2016.
Recognition of academic qualifications
In Sweden, the evaluation of qualifications is made by the Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR). In order to have the evaluation made by UHR, the applicant has to fill in the online application for evaluation of foreign qualifications. The evaluation is free of charge and the internet application is available in Swedish and English. All information can be found at: https://www.uhr.se/en/start/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.
In Poland, recognition of foreign diplomas and certificates is made by the Coordination Point for Polish and European Qualifications Framework. Recognition can be made by virtue of law or by the education superintendent as a result of administrative proceedings. All information can be found at: https://prk.men.gov.pl/en/3en/