Luxembourg & Poland Celebrate Centenary of Diplomatic Relations with Video, Website

The Embassy of Poland in Luxembourg has announced that Luxembourg and Poland are celebrating the centenary of diplomatic relations with the launch of a video and website highlighting the links developed between the two countries over the past 100 years.

The two states formally established relations on 18 April 1921. Today, Luxembourg is the third-largest direct investor in Poland, having invested over €24 billion in 2019, while commercial exchange surpassed €750 million. The countries share well-established relations in the financial sector, industrial production, the space sector, logistics, fintech and other sectors.

To commemorate this 100-year anniversary, the Polish President and His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Luxembourg exchanged letters in which they highlighted the importance of cooperation and future exchange.

Poland's President Andrzej Duda wrote in his letter to the Grand Duke: “I am delighted that after 100 years of cooperation, our relations are based on genuine partnership and friendship. I hope that we will continue to develop them as effectively and in all dimensions, especially at the political, economic and cultural level and in people-to-people contacts".

To further advance and tighten cooperation, Luxembourg’s Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Jean Asselborn, is scheduled to have a telephone call with his Polish counterpart Minister Zbigniew Rau on Monday 19 April 2021. The exchange will be followed by an in-person meeting planned for June.

In addition, the Polish Embassy in Luxembourg today launched an anniversary campaign to commemorate the many links the two countries have established over the years and showcase the ties Poles and Luxembourgers have developed.

Piotr Wojtczak, Poland's Ambassador to Luxembourg, explained: “The project is a celebration of how important Poles have become in the multi-cultural Luxembourg society. It also shows little known ties some Luxembourgers have developed with our country”.

As part of this campaign, the Embassy teamed up with the National Library in Luxembourg (widely known by its French abbreviation, BnL), the Cinémathèque, LuxAirport, the Archdiocese and several other prominent figures in the Grand Duchy to prepare an eight-minute YouTube video clip, which can be viewed below, and a website (polonais.lu) portraying the links between Luxembourg and Poland. The video and website present some of the many inspiring stories from Poles in the Grand Duchy and Luxembourgers with ties to Poland.

“We worked for over a year to gather all the fascinating stories and have discovered some fascinating anecdotes,” said Pia Libicka-Regulska, Consul of Poland. “We have selected 24 inspiring persons and 15 initiatives to present on the website, but the plan is for it to be an ever-growing project, with new names added in the coming month and years".

A dance gala concert and photographic exhibition will complete the centenary celebrations, with the dates to be announced later in the year when the sanitary situation stabilises. 

“I have worked and lived in several countries, and I can say with all certainty the Grand Duchy is among the most welcoming ones,” added Ambassador Piotr Wojtczak. “That’s why so many Polish people have settled here and we are now proudly sharing their stories”.