On the eve of the Moscow visit by Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern, Alexander Yakovenko, the spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Russia-Ireland trade and economic, and investment cooperation was facing bright prospects.
"However, its potential is not used in full today," he said.
Yakovenko said, despite some slowdown in bilateral trade last year (by nearly 6% on 2003), mostly due to limited imports of Irish meat and diary products to Russia, Irish businesses still showed interest in the Russian market.
"There is a reciprocal trend too: Russian exports to Ireland grew by 26% last year to 60.6 million euros," said Yakovenko.
Irish investment in Russian economy totaled 200 million euros by the end of 2004, with most of it going to the oil and gas, and mining industries, said Yakovenko.
