Poles are Norway’s largest ethnic minority, numbering almost 130,000 at the start of 2026, according to Statistics Norway. Bergen, the country’s second-largest city, has one of the biggest Polish communities.
“Mats is the youngest honorary consul of the Republic of Poland in the whole world. His function is extremely important for Poland and for Poles living in Bergen and the entire Vestland region, of whom, according to official estimates, there are more than 15,000”, Poland’s ambassador to Norway, Małgorzata Kosiura-Kaźmierska, said.
Meguenni, a family medicine doctor, was born in Norway to a family with Algerian roots on his father’s side. He trained at Krakow’s Jagiellonian University.
“When I decided I wanted to become a doctor, I applied to only one university. It was the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. That was the start of my ties with Poland. Today, I have a Polish wife and I speak Polish, I think fluently”, he said at the opening ceremony.
He will help protect the rights and interests of Polish citizens, provide consular assistance and promote economic, scientific and cultural ties between the two countries.
Patrycja Firlej, a Polish-born Bergen city councillor, said the post also served Norwegian interests.
“Protecting the rights and interests of Polish citizens is not solely a Polish matter. It is also part of the modern understanding of Norway’s national interest”, she said on behalf of the city’s local government.
Poland has five other honorary consulates in Norway, in Aalesund, Rjukan, Stavanger, Trondheim and Kristiansand.
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Source: PAP