RUSSIA-IRELAND RELATIONS

The USSR and Ireland signed a Joint Communique on exchange of diplomatic missions in September 1973. In past years, the political dialogue between the two countries has ramped up significantly. In 1999, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern made the first official visit to Russia where he met with Vladimir Putin and signed a series of bilateral agreements. This was the first of a number of visits to Russia by Ahern, including to attend the celebration of St Petersburg’s 300th anniversary and the 60th Victory Day festivities in Moscow.

On September 7−11, 2010, Irish President Mary McAleese paid a working visit to Russia, the first since the two countries established diplomatic relations. The reception in the Kremlin by Dmitry Medvedev was the highlight of the Irish leader’s visit. The programme of the visit also included McAleese’s meetings with then Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, Head of the Russian Nanotechnology Corporation (RUSNANO) Anatoly Chubais, Patriarch Kirill, her speech at the Diplomatic Academy and a visit to St Petersburg where the Irish president met with then Governor Valentina Matviyenko.

In March 2009, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak visited Dublin where he met with Irish President Mary McAleese, Deputy Prime Minister Mary Coughlan and Foreign Minister Micheal Martin. Kozak also co-chaired a session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Developing Russian-Irish Business Cooperation and opened the Russian-Irish representative business forum.

The two countries’ foreign ministers maintain regular contacts. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Dublin on September 22, 2008, where he met with Prime Minister Brian Cowen and Foreign Minister Micheal Martin.

In September 2011, Sergey Lavrov met with Irish Deputy Prime Minister (Tánaiste) and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York in September 2011. Gilmore visited Moscow to meet with Lavrov on November 7, 2011, and also to attend the 8th session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Developing Russian-Irish Business Cooperation.  

The two foreign ministers signed the Declaration on Cooperation for Economic Modernisation between the Russian Federation and Ireland.

In September 2012, Sergey Lavrov met with Eamon Gilmore on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, and then in December during the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Dublin.

Consultations between the foreign ministries at the level of deputy foreign ministers are also productive.

On October 15, 2014, Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov had political consultations in Dublin with Political Director of the Irish Foreign Ministry Barrie Robinson. The next meeting in this format took place in Moscow on February 11, 2016.

Decades of bilateral cooperation have produced a series of agreements, including the 1976 agreement on economic, industrial and science & technology cooperation, the 1991 protocol on political consultations, the 1991 agreement on cultural cooperation, the 1993 air service agreement, the 1993 agreement on international road transport, the 1994 agreement for the avoidance of double taxation, etc.

The two countries’ trade and economic cooperation is based on the 1976 intergovernmental agreement on economic, industrial and science & technology cooperation, which led to the establishment of the Intergovernmental Committee on Developing Russian-Irish Business Cooperation. Russian Deputy Minister of Justice Maxim Travnikov  co-chairs the committee, where he was joined by Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney.

During the 9th session of the Committee on Developing Russian-Irish Business Cooperation in April 2014, the sides prepared for signing a bilateral agreement between Ireland’s National Space Centre and the Russian Space Agency on joint projects involving an Irish radio telescope and the placement of a differential correction and monitoring station for the Russian GLONASS satellite navigation system in Ireland. Ireland has been reluctant to sign this document for fear of being blamed for undermining the “European solidarity” principle.

Russian-Irish space cooperation was also discussed at a meeting between Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich and Irish Minister for Training, Skill, Innovation and Research and Development John Halligan on October 2, 2016 on the sidelines of the Science and Technologies Forum in Kyoto, Japan.

During its 10th session in December 2015 in Moscow, the Committee on Developing Russian-Irish Business Cooperation signed a memorandum of understanding between the Russian Ministry of Education and the Irish Ministry for Training, Skill, Innovation and Research and Development on cooperation in higher education.

In December 2017, the Committee on Developing Russian-Irish Business Cooperation is expected to met for its 11th session in Dublin.

In 2016, Russian-Irish trade increased by 10% year-on-year and totalled $1.2 billion. Russian exports grew by 16.1% to $317 million and imports by 8% to $897.3 million.

In January−June this year, trade rose 13.5% year-on-year to reach $705 million. Russian exports dropped 7.7% to $172 million and imports climbed 22.6% to $533 million. Russia’s trade deficit totalled $360 million.

Irish accumulated investment in the Russian economy was $7 billion (7th place) in the third quarter of 2016.

Russia’s exports to Ireland in 2016 mainly fell under the trading groups cars, equipment and transport vehicles (48.1%), mineral resources (26%) and chemical products (21.7%).

The key import groups are chemical products (51.2%), cars, equipment and transport vehicles (31.7%), food items and agricultural produce (14.1%).

Major Irish companies operating in Russia are CRH, Smurfit Kappa, Aminex and others pursuing investment projects in commercial and residential real estate construction, sports facilities, trade and transportation, as well as industry.

Likewise, Russian companies have shown interest in Ireland. Rusal holding has a controlling stake in the Irish Aughinish Alumina LTD enterprise, Europe’s leading aluminium oxide producer. The Zelenograd-based company NT-MDT, a manufacturer of probe microscopes, has a branch in Limerick. The anti-virus software developer Kaspersky Lab has a dealer in Dublin, Chameleon Technology LTD. An international air freight company, Volga-Dnepr, specialising in heavy cargo transportation by AN-124, operates in Dublin.

Enterprise Ireland, promoting Irish business on world markets, organizes economic conferences on expanding Irish investment in the Russian market and developing bilateral economic cooperation.

Russia is cooperating with a major Irish-US biotech corporation, Alltech (producing animal feed supplements and biomass), which has a branch and a production unit in Russia (Vsevolozhsk, Leningrad Region). The sides are negotiating expanding Alltech’s production facilities on Russian territory and developing cooperation with Russian biomass manufacturers.

In 2016, Russia supplied Ireland with four Sukhoi Superjet-100 aircraft (the contract envisions 15). The Irish Aviation Authority has also shown interest in Russian MS-21 aircraft, and their specific proposals have been forwarded to the joint stock company Irkut Corporation.

Presently, S7 aircraft fly between Moscow and Dublin in the high season (summer) once a week.

Contacts between Russian and Irish regions have seen positive dynamics lately. President of the Tatarstan Republic Rustam Minnikhanov made several successful working visits to Dublin in June−July 2015. Head of the Moscow Foreign Economic and International Relations Department Sergey Cheryomin and a cultural delegation from St Petersburg also visited Dublin in October 2015. These contacts yielded concrete agreements on expanding cooperation.

In April 2016, an Irish business delegation visited Tatarstan to attend the Kazan Venture Fair. As a result, several Russian start-ups received Irish grants and were introduced on the local market. In addition to the Kazan Venture Fair’s innovation programme, Irish delegates representing the agricultural sector (including Hermitage Genetics, Alltech) visited Tatarstan’s agro-industrial enterprises to see their operations and establish business contacts.

On July 24−25, 2017, a Moscow government delegation led by Sergey Cheryomin arrived in Dublin. Negotiations with Lord-Mayor Micheal Mac Donncha focused on practical implementation of the cooperation programme for the two capitals between 2017 and 2019. Sergey Cheryomin passed along Mayor Sergei Sobyanin’s invitation to the Dublin mayor to visit Moscow.

Our countries are also developing cultural and humanitarian cooperation.

The Moscow State Lomonosov University, St Petersburg State University, St Petersburg Financial Academy, St Petersburg State University of Culture, Moscow Bauman State Technical University, Russian State University for the Humanities, and universities of Samara and Saratov maintain close contacts in various areas with Ireland’s leading universities such as Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, Maynooth University, etc.

On September 13, 2014, the first library of Russian literature named after Sergey Mikhalkov opened in Galway, Ireland’s fourth largest city and a major economic centre on the west coast. The Sergey Mikhalkov Fund and the Russian Culture Fund sponsored the project.

To Russia with Love, a Dublin charity, has been helping Russian orphanages and receiving orphaned children from Russia in Ireland for many years.

On February 24−26, 2017, Dublin hosted an annual festival of Russian culture, Maslennitsa, held since 2010, featuring Moscow and St Petersburg actors and folklore ensembles. The event also involved a roundtable for Russian compatriots, Education Through Culture and Culture Through Education – A 21st Century Formula, devoted to preserving the Russian language and culture, and working with youngsters.

These festival events were attended by a Moscow government delegation and the International Relations Committee of St Petersburg.