Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit were due to leave for a three-day official visit to Poland on Monday. Nearly 60 business leaders are tagging along, hoping to drum up more trade with their Polish counterparts.
Royal tours are often used as door-openers for local business, and the crown couple's trip to Poland is no exception. Poland, increasingly affluent and a new member of the European Union, is now an interesting market for Norwegian companies.
Tourism officials are particularly hoping they'll be able to lure more Polish tourists to Norway. "Norway is still an expensive country for most Poles, but studies show they're curious about Norway and want to fish in the fjords," Per Holte of Innovation Norway told newspaper Aftenposten.
Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit will visit Warsaw and Krakow. They'll help open a Norwegian-Polish competence forum that will feature workshops on tourism, food preparation and research. They'll also visit Warsaw University of Technology's Business School and meet volunteer organizations that work with discrimination issues.
In Krakow they'll visit the university where many Norwegians study medicine, and attend a concert featuring Norwegian performer Thomas Dybdahl. The couple will also meet with Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski and his wife Jolanta Kwasniewska.
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