Poland—Sri Lanka Relations: Beyond Tea and Tourism?

While preparing for my next trip to Sri Lanka, I keep reflecting on relations between Poland and the “Pearl of the Indian Ocean.”

- By Dr. ANTONINA LUSZCZYKIEWICZ-MENDIS*

At first, Sri Lanka and my home country—a democratic nation of 38 million people in Central Europe—may seem very distant from one another. Yet, this year has brought a substantial development in their bilateral relations.

In May 2025, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski visited Sri Lanka. He participated in high-level meetings with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, and Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath. Notably, he was representing not only Warsaw but also the entire European Union, as Poland held the EU presidency.

Historical Linkages

Shared historical connections between Sri Lanka and Poland stretch back more than a century. One of them is particularly close to my heart: the visit of Adam Asnyk, a renowned poet born in my hometown of Kalisz, the oldest city in Poland. He travelled to Sri Lanka in 1894.

Even more notable was the 1914 journey of Bronislaw Malinowski, the world-famous anthropologist and founder of the functionalist school. During his stay on the way to the western Pacific, he visited Anuradhapura, Dambulla, Kandy, Sigiriya, and even the ancient village of Nalanda in Matale.