Tánaiste meets Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Kozak

Largest Russian Trade Delegation to visit Ireland in over a decade

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan T.D., today (3^rd March 2009) met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Kozak, when the two co-chaired the 7^th meeting of the Joint Economic Commission (JEC) between Ireland and Russia.

Deputy Prime Minister Kozak is the most senior Russian politician to come to Ireland for some time, and his visit gives added impetus to further development of Irish - Russian trade, which has risen substantially in the past few years. Irish exports of goods and services to Russia having reached around €1.5 billion in 2008 and imports from Russia are also increasing, albeit at a slower rate. Ireland maintains a very healthy trade balance with Russia of around €1 billion.

Despite the current worldwide economic crisis, Russia remains the 11th largest economy in the world, equivalent in size to Canada, but larger than India and Brazil. The Tánaiste believes that there remains significant potential to further expand Irish exports to Russia and that the Joint Economic Commission will act as an additional conduit to assist this process.

Ireland holds JECs with four countries – Saudi Arabia, China, Russia and South Korea. These JECs are formal Bilateral InterGovernmental forums set up to deal with trade development in all its aspects, mercantile and services. They serve to further the development of economic and business cooperation, including scientific and technological cooperation and to provide a forum for discussing issues between the two countries involved.

Speaking at the Joint Commission, the Tánaiste said that “in looking at Ireland’s exports to Russia over recent years, the trend has been positive, and particularly so in the more challenging backdrop of 2008, where our merchandise exports increased by some 14%. The increase in the trade in services is even more remarkable – actually doubling to over one billion euros in 2007 and showing strong increases again in 2008. I think we are certainly entitled to conclude that our bilateral trade relationship is a healthy one and we look forward to building on this relationship and further deepening our ties in terms of both trade and investment in both countries”.

The Tánaiste also welcomed the fact that Irish construction companies will be invited to bid for some of the big infrastructure projects that will soon get underway, as Russia begins preparations to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

On the issue of Irish pork exports to Russia, the Irish side undertook to resolve the issue of the disposal of Irish pork products sent to Russia over the period in question. The Russian side agreed to study a report to be forwarded by the Irish side on the steps taken to ensure that such an episode does not happen again, with a view to lifting the temporary restriction on the import of pork and pork products to Russia from Ireland.

Cooperation in the sphere of investment will also be discussed. According to data from the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, Ireland to date has been the eight largest provider of Russian Foreign Direct Investment, and at the same time a number of Russian companies have set-up operations in Ireland, the most prominent of which is Aughinish Alumina, which is owned by Russia’s RUSAL group.

In pointing out that many of the world’s largest multinationals have set up not just operations, but also regional headquarters and research and development facilities in Ireland, the Tánaiste said to Deputy Prime Minister Kozak, “Ireland remains open to further investment and I hope that this is one of the messages that you will bring back with you to Russia”.

To further assist the expansion of Irish trade with Russia, The Tánaiste is scheduled to lead a Trade Mission to Russia on May 18th, which will be the first to be led at the level of Tánaiste in almost 8 years.