Relations between Poland and Bhutan are relatively recent. The first contacts began when the Queen Mother and wife of King of Bhutan Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck made an ‘informal’ visit to Poland in May 2011 to expand bilateral relations. She met President Anna Komorowska. She also promoted the Polish language edition of her book, Of Rainbows and Clouds: The Life of Yab Ugyen Dorji as told to his Daughter published in 1999 (IPA Journal, 2011). The book provides insights into the life and times of Bhutan during the twentieth century as well as glimpses of life. She also inaugurated the Poland-Bhutan Friendship Society on 25 May 2011 and expressed the hope that it would play an important role in creating greater awareness about Bhutan and lead to better and closer relations between the two countries (Little Bhutan, 2011).

Diplomatic Relations

A year-and-half later, diplomatic relations were established on 29 November 2012. The joint communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations was signed by Lhatu Wangchuk, Ambassador to the United Nations, and the Polish Ambassador to the United Nations, Ryszard Sarkowicz, in New York. Poland was 48th country with which Bhutan established diplomatic relations. The two ambassadors expressed the interest of their governments to cooperate closely in the bilateral and multilateral fields. Both ambassadors expressed the desire to further deepen bilateral cooperation at the United Nations and at other multilateral for a (Bhutan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, 2012). While the Polish Ambassador in New Delhi is a credit to put on, Bhutan does not maintain an Embassy in Poland.

This was considered to be ‘a great achievement’ since Bhutan does not easily establish diplomatic relations with a new country. It seems that one possible motive behind establishing diplomatic relations was that Poland would contribute to the development of Bhutan by the extension of development assistance. This however has not been realized.Footnote 1

Relations in the 2010s

The first Bhutanese visit to Poland was that of Lyonpo Yeshey Dorji, Minister for Agriculture and Forests and Vice Chair of the National Environment Commission, in November 2013 for the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework on Climate Change in Warsaw. ‘As a landlocked, least developed country in the fragile Himalayan mountain ecosystem,’ he urged developed countries to play a leadership role in the fulfilment of obligations under the Climate Change Convention and the Kyoto Protocol. He stressed the need for the international community to demonstrate greater global solidarity to tackle the threat of climate change (Bhutan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, 2013).

In order to initiate bilateral political and economic contacts, the first visit by a Polish delegation was led by Michał Kołodziejski, director of the Asia–Pacific Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 8 to 10 October 2015. The delegation included 10 companies of ‘GreenEvo’ or Green Technology Accelerator, a project of the Ministry of Climate and Environment established to promote Polish green technologies which focus on areas like water and waste management, renewable energy, and biodiversity. The delegation was received by foreign minister Lyonpo Damcho Dorji and five deputy ministers of ministries: economy, agriculture, planning, information and communication, and infrastructure. During the visit, discussions were held on cooperation in various UN fora and preliminary discussions on the possibility of the extension of Polish development assistance as well as cooperation in the field of agriculture and urban transport (Poland, Embassy in India, 2023).

A delegation led by Secretary of the National Environment Commission, Sonam P. Wangdi, attended the United Nations Conference on Climate Change Conference of Parties 24 (COP 24) in Katowice, Poland in December 2018. On the sidelines of COP24, the Leader of the Delegation held bilateral meetings with the leaders from Luxembourg, Japan, Suriname, and several multilateral agencies (Bhutan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, 2018).

There have been no high-level visits between the two countries. There has been one meeting between Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputwicz and Bhutan Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly at New York in September 2019 when Poland was lobbying for its candidature for its membership in the Human Rights Council for the term 2020–2022.

An 8-member Polish business delegation visited Thimpu in April 2023. The delegation represented sectors such as medicine (including modern telemedicine solutions), e-solutions for administration (including mobile services for citizens and online contact with local administration), solutions related to environmental protection (e.g. mobile sewage treatment plants, intelligent energy management systems—including lighting), and Internet banking. The delegation held meetings with representatives of the Bhutanese government, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Home and Cultural Affairs, the Foreign Secretary, the Speaker of Parliament, the Director General of Tourism Council, and the Director of Centre for Bhutan and Gross National Happiness Studies (Poland, Embassy in India, 2023b).

Economic and Trade Relations

There is a marginal trade between Poland and Bhutan. In 2014, total bilateral trade amounted to US$280,000 with Polish exports being a meagre $9,000, while imports were US$271,000.

In 2016, trade marginally increased to US$ 295,000, with Polish exports amounting to US$246,000, representing an increase of 280% over the previous year. Imports from Bhutan stood at US$49,000, representing a decline by 74% over 2015. As a result, Poland recorded a positive trade balance of US$198,000, which was in sharp contrast to the trade deficit of US$102,000 in 2015.

Polish exports in 2016 largely consisted of mechanical and electrical devices (mainly saws) valued at US$192,000. Polish imports from Bhutan primarily consisted of fabrics and textiles worth US$46,000 (Poland & Embassy in India, 2023).

Trade increased to US$1.1 million in 2018, but declined to US$300,000 in 2020 when there were no imports from Bhutan. In 2020, Poland exported US$300,000 worth of goods and there were no imports from Bhutan during the year.

No bilateral economic agreements have been signed by Poland with Bhutan.

Conclusion

Bhutan was relatively slow in approving the establishment of a Polish Honorary Consul in Thimpu. It was only in November 2022 that Poland finally established an Honorary Consulate with Wangdi Jamyang as the Honorary Consul in Thimphu, Bhutan on the 10th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations. On this occasion, Adam Burakowski, Ambassador of Poland to India concurrently accredited to Bhutan, expressed the hope that the growth of friendship would lead to an increase in tourism between the two countries (Kuensel, 2022).

Trade relations between Poland and Bhutan are insignificant. A few Bhutanese students have studied in Poland under European Union (EU) scholarship schemes such as the Erasmus Mundus programme. The EU has been the window of cooperation between the two countries. There is potential for cooperation in the field of agriculture, culture, and science between the two countries (Bhutan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, 2023).