Over 220 Irish and Russian business people and government officials, including Amideon Systems attended the Russian Business Forum, which was held in the Irish Management Institute, Dublin. The event, which was co-sponsored by Enterprise Ireland www.enterprise-ireland.com and the Irish Business and Employers Confederation www.ibec.ie, was funded by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, with additional funding provided by Grant Thornton and Russian oil company TNK-BP. The keynote address was delivered by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Kozak, who was welcomed by Ireland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mícheál Martin. The Forum was a prelude to the 2009 Irish Trade Mission to Russia, to be led by the Tánaiste Mary Coughlan TD on May 18th, the first to be lead at such a level in over 8 years.

In the course of the Russian Business Forum, many senior Irish and Russian business executives gave wide ranging presentations which provided the audience with an insight into doing business in Russia and quantified the Russian market in terms of opportunities and the purchasing habits of Russian consumers. The event also had a Russian regional dimension, with a presentation to the main forum session by the Prime Minister of Tatarstan, Mr Rustam Minnikhanov. Following the main session in the morning, there were two further seminars, on the practicalities of doing business in Russia and on commercial opportunities in Russia’s regions.

The Russian Business Forum was the culmination of a number of days of Russia related events in Dublin, which coincided with the meeting of the Biannual Ireland Russia Joint Economic Commission (JEC). A Russian Trade Delegation of over 45 individuals also visited Ireland during the course of the JEC and this is especially noteworthy as Irish exports of goods and services to Russia in 2008 were close to €1.5 billion.

Despite current worldwide economic difficulties, Russia remains the 11th largest economy in the world, equivalent in size to Canada, but larger than India and Brazil. Enterprise Ireland believes that there remains significant potential to further expand Irish exports to Russia, and that and the upcoming Trade Mission to Russia, will seek to strengthen and assist this process.