PRESIDENT MARY McAleese will travel to Russia next week on an official state visit that will include a meeting with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in the Kremlin.
A key part of the programme will focus on encouraging trade and business links between Ireland and Russia. Trade between Ireland and Russia is worth an estimated €2 billion per year.
When she arrives in Moscow on Tuesday, Mrs McAleese will be accompanied by Minister of State Billy Kelleher who will lead a trade delegation involving 30 Irish companies and agencies.
This will be the first bilateral visit to the country by an Irish president. The late president Patrick Hillery visited Russia before the fall of the Soviet Union, but only to attend the funerals of Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko.
Mrs McAleese, who will be accompanied by her husband Dr Martin McAleese, will return home on Saturday.
