On August 23, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine (CDTO) Dmytro Senik and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ireland Simon Coveney inaugurated the premises of the Embassy of Ireland in Ukraine.

The participants of the solemn ceremony noted that the launch of the first-ever diplomatic mission of Ireland in Kyiv would allow bringing the bilateral relations to a qualitatively new level.

"The opening of the Irish Embassy in Kyiv creates additional opportunities for the development of trade cooperation between our countries and undoubtedly will contribute to the intensification of bilateral interaction in different areas, including the IT sector, investment and education field. Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba emphasized the abovementioned cooperation priorities during the bilateral meeting with his Irish counterpart Mr. Simon Coveney on the side-lines of the inaugural summit of the Crimean Platform ”, - Dmytro Senik said.

He also drew attention to the successful activities of the Irish companies CRH and Ryanair in Ukraine and expressed hope for further enlargement of business cooperation between the two countries.

The Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney noticed that the opening of the Embassy in Kyiv is an important milestone in the development of bilateral cooperation and is a part of the Government’s strategy #GlobalIreland to double Ireland’s footprint on the world stage.

For reference: diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Ireland were established on April 1, 1992. The Embassy of Ukraine in Ireland was opened in August 2003.

On August 19, 2021, the Ambassador of Ireland to Ukraine with residence in Kyiv Ms. Therese Martina HEALY presented her credentials to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (until now the Ambassador of Ireland to the Czech Republic was part-time accredited in Ukraine). The official opening of the Embassy of Ireland in Kyiv took place on August 23, 2021 during the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ireland Simon Coveney to Ukraine to participate in the inaugural summit of the Crimean Platform.

According to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the total volume of trade in goods and services between Ukraine and Ireland in 2020 amounted to $ 677 million (0.8% of the total volume of Ukraine-EU trade in goods and services). In the first quarter of 2021, it decreased by 15.8% compared to the first quarter of 2020 and amounted to $176.5 million. 

The main areas of trade and economic cooperation: agriculture, pharmaceuticals, food industry and food products, instrument making, etc. In the field of services, the main volumes of trade are transport, computer and telecommunications services.