PRESIDENT MARY McAleese said at the end of her five-day visit to Russia on Saturday that new relationships had been established and others enhanced with an important economic partner.
Speaking before she left, she said: “My meeting with President Medvedev was a key milestone in terms of deepening the important ties between our two countries. The work done in the past week will provide the platform on which the relationship between Ireland and Russia will be further developed to the mutual benefit of both our peoples.”
Mrs McAleese was the first Irish president to hold a meeting in the Kremlin with a Russian president.
In St Petersburg, she held a meeting with its governor, Valentina Matvienko, who has close political links with Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin. While she was in the city, she stayed at the Kempinksi Hotel where its Irish manager Liam Madden had trained staff to speak in Irish to the presidential delegation.
One of her final engagements on Saturday was to visit the statue of Anna Akhmatova, a Russian poet. Mrs McAleese said the bittersweet poignancy of her poetry was capable of bringing her to tears.
She also visited the Catherine Palace, the lavish summer residence of the Russian tsars which is still being restored after the siege of Leningrad in the second World War.
The key focus of the trip was on improving trade and business links.
Enterprise Ireland said contracts and agreements for export sales worth more than €9.2 million were signed during a trade mission which coincided with the President’s visit.
Mrs McAleese’s next overseas trip will be to Denmark for a State visit next month.
