King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia will visit Warsaw and Gdańsk on 10-12 March, blurring the lines between business and total defence in the Baltic Sea.
King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia are paying a three-day state visit to Poland at the invitation of President Karol Nawrocki. This is the third Swedish state visit to Poland, following earlier visits in 1993 and 2011, and the first by the Swedish royal couple since 2011. The Swedish monarch usually undertakes only one such state visit abroad each year.
‘What has changed is the strategic density of the bilateral agenda. Sweden’s NATO accession was a watershed moment, and it brought our countries into genuine alignment – not just on values, but on shared threat assessments, defence posture and the future of the European security architecture. Add to that a convergence on Ukraine, on Baltic Sea resilience and on critical infrastructure – and you have a relationship that has moved well beyond ceremony’ – Adam Rogowski, co-CEO at Swedish-Polish Chamber of Commerce, told Visegrad Insight.
Business comes first, for defence reasons mostly
The trip marks a number of contracts in the defence sector to be signed, which are also well-grounded in flourishing economic relations. But the state visit marks a new stage in these relations underpinned by pressing security challenges – a perspective shared by both countries. Yet economic security comes first.
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