EAM Jaishankar Explores Collaboration Expansion with Irish Minister

S. Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs, met Simon Coveney, the minister of enterprise, trade, and employment in Ireland, on Thursday. The two had talks about opening up new channels of communication between their countries. Meeting Coveney was enjoyable, Jaishankar said, and they had a good conversation about possible areas of cooperation between Ireland and India. The agenda covered a wide range of topics of shared interest, with a special emphasis on investigating prospects for cooperation in developing industries.

The two ministers also discussed current international affairs and exchanged opinions on important topics. These subjects included the circumstances in Gaza and Ukraine. “Happy to meet @simoncoveney, Ireland’s Minister of Enterprise, Trade, and Employment. An excellent conversation about potential new areas of cooperation between Ireland and India. Additionally, we discussed Gaza and Ukraine,” Jaishankar wrote in a post on X. The history of relations between India and Ireland begins in the 19th century, when a large number of Irishmen enlisted in the British Civil Service and joined the army, medical, and engineering fields.

In 1947, formal diplomatic ties were established between the two nations. In 1951, India established an embassy in Dublin. India and Ireland had a total of USD 1823.76 million in bilateral trade in goods between April 2021 and March 2022. According to the Department of Commerce’s EXIM data bank, India’s exports to Ireland totaled USD 687.95 million, while imports from Ireland were valued at USD 1135.81 million.

The Indian Embassy in Dublin has been encouraging Irish companies to engage in major flagship programmes like “Make in India”, “Digital India”, “Clean India” and “Smart Cities,” according to the Ministry of External Affairs.