On arrival on Tuesday evening (7 September), the President will make a courtesy call on the Mayor of Moscow, Mr Yury Luzhkov. A key element of the Irish President’s programme will focus on encouraging trade and business links between Ireland and Russia. This will be the main theme of an Enterprise Ireland dinner which the President will address that evening, as well as the focus of her participation in a Business Network breakfast on the following morning.
Later on Wednesday (8 September), the President will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier, followed by an address at a Russia-Ireland Forum on Nanotechnology sponsored by the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RUSNANO) and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). Later in the day, the President will meet His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church and in the evening will attend a performance of traditional Irish music and dance, hosted by the Irish Ambassador, Mr Philip McDonagh.
On Thursday (9 September) President McAleese will meet the President of the Russian Federation, Mr Dmitry Medvedev, in the Kremlin.
Also on Thursday the President will deliver an address, “Ireland and Russia in the 21st Century” at the Diplomatic Academy of Foreign Affairs. The President will in the afternoon depart Moscow for St Petersburg where, on arrival, she will pay a visit to the Memorial to the Siege of Leningrad.
On Friday (10 September) the President will deliver an address, “Legal Education and the Economics of the Future”, at the St. Petersburg State University of Economics (FINEC). She will also attend a lunch hosted by the Governor of St. Petersburg, Valentina Matvienko. In the evening, the President will visit the State Heritage Museum where she will also attend a
performance of Irish music and dance to celebrate the strong cultural links between Ireland and Russia.
On Saturday morning (11 September), the President will visit Catherine Palace and afterwards will depart St Petersburg for Dublin.
The President will be accompanied by Dr. McAleese.
