“No need to say in this relation that one of the most distinctive regions of the United Kingdom that played a special role in British history but also has historical relations with Russia is Scotland. We have indeed long tradition of notable interchanges and friendship between the two nations full of exciting and encouraging examples of enterprise, hospitality and dignity. For centuries the close links were maintained both at the level of individuals and entire communities, and many would agree that this was possible due to the similarities in the national character traits, rich cultures, harsh natural and historical environment.

“Since the XVI century Russia proved to be the second home for many Scots who were in turn ready to offer their knowledge and skills to the state that faced numerous challenges at the time. Among the prominent Scots who served in Russia were soldiers like Patrick Gordon and James Bruce in Peter the Great’s army, sailors like Catherine the Great’s admiral Samuel Graig, doctors like Sir James Wylie who governed Russian military medical bodies for a long time, architect’s like Charles Cameron who designed splendid Tsarkoe Selo palace not far from St Petersburg. All these people delivered remarkable services to Russia and were highly honoured and rewarded for that. Russians in their turn adored visiting Caledonia and were welcomed wholeheartedly by Scots.”

In 2012 the emphasis has moved from military leadership to fishing.

Andrey Krainiy, head of Russia’s federal fishery agency, explored joint projects with Mr. Swinney, saying he was interested in the resumption of the Russian-Scottish cooperation in fishery. ”I am convinced that we will find mutually advantageous fields of cooperation.”

The Russian fishery boss pinpointed the joint research and exploitation of the Rockall bank aquatic biological resources as “a promising area for joint cooperation”.

He also proposed the possibility of constructing a dockyard for building fishing vessels, inspection and control vessels and other types of multi-purpose ships (aquiculture, inshore fishery, etc.) in Kaliningrad region. We chose this region because it offers vast investment opportunities to foreign investors.

“Potentially, we could cooperate in the following:

· reconstruction and modernization of the existing Kaliningrad region dockyard;

· investment into a construction of  a new dockyard;

· technical staff training at dockyards in Scotland.

“Also, I would like to highlight that the Russian side is always open for any suggestions from its Scottish counterparts which would contribute to modernization of the commercial fishing sector in Russia and take our bilateral relations to a higher level of cooperation.

At the meeting Ambassador Yakovenko honoured Jenny Craig, the Chairperson of the Scotland-Russia Forum and the Scotland-Russia Institute with the medal of the Russian Federal Agency “Rossotrudnichestvo” for promoting cultural and people-to-people ties between Russia and Scotland.