OREANDA-NEWS. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland Simon Coveny will hold talks in Moscow on Tuesday. This is the first meeting in seven years of the heads of the foreign affairs agencies of the two states. "It's planned to discuss the current state and prospects of Russian-Irish relations, the possibilities for intensifying bilateral cooperation. It's also intended to exchange views on topical international and regional issues", the Russian Foreign Ministry said on the eve of the meeting.

The Russian ministry reminded that in 2018, the countries celebrated the 45th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations, which "are invariably based on equality, mutual respect and consideration of interests" and "are traditionally friendly". These ties are based on a regular political dialogue on a wide range of bilateral and international issues in order to better understand Moscow and Dublin’s foreign policy approaches to each other, as well as to find common ground in solving global problems.

Contacts are dynamically developing along the legislative line. In February, a delegation of the Friendship Group from Russia to the Irish Parliament visited Moscow, and in May a Russian parliamentary delegation visited Dublin. As a result of these meetings, the countries agreed to give regularity to such contacts, including through the line committees.

In the first quarter of 2019, the trade turnover between the countries exceeded the figures of the same period of the previous year by 12.3%, reaching $ 657.3 million. The promising areas of cooperation in Moscow include agriculture, information and high technologies, and the sphere of energy efficiency. “The further expansion of business contacts is also topical, especially in the area of ​​small and medium-sized businesses”, the Russian diplomatic agency said, recalling the important role in this issue of the Russian-Irish Intergovernmental Committee for the Development of Business Cooperation.