New Delhi

Neeta Bhushan, a 1994-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, has been appointed as India’s next Ambassador to the Republic of Poland, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Monday.

Bhushan is presently serving as India’s High Commissioner to New Zealand and is expected to assume her new assignment shortly.

India and Poland share a long-standing and friendly relationship, marked by sustained political engagement and growing economic cooperation. Diplomatic ties between the two countries were established in 1954, with the Indian Embassy opening in Warsaw in 1957.

Bilateral relations were particularly close during the Communist era, with frequent high-level exchanges and structured trade arrangements. The relationship remained strong even after Poland adopted democracy in 1989 and further deepened after it joined the European Union in 2004, emerging as India’s key economic partner in Central Europe.

Over the decades, India and Poland have witnessed robust exchanges at the level of Heads of State and Government. Notable Indian leaders who visited Poland include Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Morarji Desai, and Presidents V V Giri, Zail Singh and S D Sharma.

From the Polish side, high-level visits to India included those by Presidents Lech Walesa and Aleksander Kwasniewski, as well as Prime Ministers Leszek Miller and Donald Tusk.

President Pratibha Patil visited Poland in 2009, while Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk paid a state visit to India in 2010, reaffirming the depth of bilateral ties.

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Bhushan’s appointment comes at a time when India-Poland relations continue to expand across political, economic and strategic domains.