{"id":357,"date":"2026-10-15T22:32:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T22:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ilovepoland.fi\/?p=357"},"modified":"2026-10-15T22:32:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T22:32:46","slug":"farewell-dear-ambassador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ilovepoland.fi\/?p=357","title":{"rendered":"Farewell, Dear Ambassador"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Poland and Finland have reached an unprecedented level of cooperation in security, trade and technology, according to Poland\u2019s outgoing ambassador to Helsinki, Tomasz Ch\u0142o\u0144, who returns to Warsaw in autumn 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The well-liked Head of Mission delivered his farewell speech at the Polish Armed Forces Day reception on Thursday, 17 September 2026, highlighting the transformation of Finnish-Polish relations since Finland joined NATO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSince 4 April 2023, Poland and Finland are no longer just good partners in the military sense, but allies in the most successful alliance in history,\u201d Ch\u0142o\u0144 said, describing both countries as among Ukraine\u2019s staunchest supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Security has become the central issue in bilateral relations, he argued, while Finland\u2019s NATO membership has fundamentally strengthened the alliance\u2019s position in Northern Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Farewell, Dear Ambassador\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6GE3pwL1Tt8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe at NATO are overwhelmingly stronger than our opponent,\u201d Ch\u0142o\u0144 said, pointing out that the ten member states of the Council of the Baltic Sea States have combined budgets approaching \u20ac300 billion, according to his figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Economic relations have also expanded considerably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEconomically, we are as strong as ever. Our annual trade and services turnover with Finland is \u20ac7.6 billion,\u201d Ch\u0142o\u0144 said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Poland is now approaching the Netherlands in its ambition to become Finland\u2019s fifth-largest trading partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ambassador also highlighted the increasingly sophisticated technological cooperation between the two countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI frequently say that our relations have reached cosmic and quantum levels,\u201d he remarked, citing the Finnish-Polish satellite company ICEYE and the delivery of a Finnish quantum computer to Wroc\u0142aw in Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Political cooperation has become exceptionally close, particularly in European security and support for Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe see eye to eye on almost anything,\u201d Ch\u0142o\u0144 said. He suggested that Polish Foreign Minister Rados\u0142aw Sikorski could deliver a speech prepared for his Finnish counterpart, Elina Valtonen, with hardly any changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two countries also cooperate closely within the European Union, NATO and Baltic Sea organisations. Ch\u0142o\u0144 highlighted Poland\u2019s recent chairmanship of the Council of the Baltic Sea States and its assumption of the HELCOM chairmanship in July 2026, with the aim of making the Baltic Sea cleaner and safer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He described relations between Finland and Poland as extending well beyond traditional diplomacy, encompassing regional cooperation, science, culture, business and increasingly close contacts between citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur relations are no longer merely bilateral. They are also internal,\u201d he said, referring to the depth of cooperation within the shared European and transatlantic institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Concluding his assignment in Helsinki, Ch\u0142o\u0144 reflected on the different countries in which he had served during his diplomatic career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis Finnish life, and the Finns, shaped me,\u201d he said. \u201cFinland has been the best of times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Poland and Finland have reached an unprecedented level of cooperation in security, trade and technology, according to Poland\u2019s outgoing ambassador to Helsinki, Tomasz Ch\u0142o\u0144, who returns to Warsaw in autumn 2026. The well-liked Head of Mission delivered his farewell speech at the Polish Armed Forces Day reception on Thursday, 17 September 2026, highlighting the transformation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8,23],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arcticle","tag-eng","tag-tomasz-chlon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ilovepoland.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ilovepoland.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ilovepoland.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ilovepoland.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ilovepoland.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ilovepoland.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":360,"href":"https:\/\/ilovepoland.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions\/360"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ilovepoland.fi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ilovepoland.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ilovepoland.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ilovepoland.fi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}