TÁNAISTE AND Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore yesterday began a two-day visit to Russia aimed at deepening political and economic links between the two countries.
Mr Gilmore is due to meet Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov today for talks on Irish and Russian co-operation in international forums. He will later chair a meeting of the joint economic commission between Ireland and Russia.
Speaking in advance of his visit, the Tánaiste said the trip attested to the Government’s “emphasis on deepening and broadening further our political and economic relations with Russia”.
He said the joint economic commission would cover issues in the areas of education, agriculture, transport, energy, ICT and technology. “[These are] areas in which there is already significant co-operation and where we believe there is strong potential to strengthen our partnership to our mutual benefit,” he added.
Mr Gilmore will launch Education in Ireland, an umbrella brand for marketing the Irish higher-education and English-language sectors internationally, in Moscow.
He is also due to meet members of the Global Irish Network and other members of the Irish community during his trip.
The Tánaiste’s visit comes after bilateral relations were strained earlier this year when Ireland expelled a Russian diplomat after it emerged the identities of six Irish citizens were stolen for the manufacture of forged Irish passports used by a Russian spy ring.
That incident occurred as relations between the two countries were warming. Last year, President Mary McAleese became the first Irish president to meet a Russian counterpart in the Kremlin.
She was accompanied by a 30-strong trade delegation, which signed export deals worth more than €9.2 million.