The Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore earlier this month was in Moscow for meetings with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The visit came as Ireland prepares to take over the annual rotating Chairmanship of the OSCE for 2012. Ireland will also have the Presidency of the European Union in 2013.
The two sides underscored that they have common approaches to European Security based on the need for a balance of all three security dimensions - military-political, economic-environmental, and humanitarian. Answering questions at a Press Conference after the meeting Sergei Lavrov said "we appreciate the constructive attitude of our partners as they prepare to assume chairmanship of the OSCE. My counterpart introduced me to the scope of the program that the Irish chairmanship intends to promote in the Organization. The program is well balanced and corresponds to the basic principles of the OSCE. We will actively facilitate its promotion on the basis of consensus and balance between the three dimensions of security".
Ireland is one of the top ten investors in Russia, with more than $11 billion of accumulated investments. Russia and Ireland are also developing cooperation in the field of modernization and innovation and during the visit signed a "Declaration on Cooperation for Economic Modernization between Russia and Ireland".
In a comment, the political editor of commonspace.eu said that "Ireland has a very good track record of chairing international institutions despite the fact that it is a small country with limited diplomatic resources. Ireland will take over the Chairmanship of the OSCE at a time when there is an increasing feeling that the Organisation needs to adjust to become more relevant in the current European reality. Managing the relationship with Russia is traditionally one of the biggest challenges of the OSCE Chairmanship and it is promising that the Irish Foreign Minister has been in Moscow ahead of taking over the Presidency, and that his plans have been given a nod of approval by the Russian side. The OSCE however has since 1994 been first and foremost a crisis management organisation, and in this regard Ireland will need to be prepared for many eventualities, since the situation in many regions within the OSCE area is far from certain and Irish leadership will be required if and when crisis develop."
source: commonspace.eu
photo: The Irish and Russian Foreign Ministers at their meeting in Moscow on 7 November 2011 (picture courtesy of the Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service)
