ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE DIPLOMATIC ACADEMY ‘IRELAND AND RUSSIA IN 21ST CENTURY’
ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE DIPLOMATIC ACADEMY ‘IRELAND AND RUSSIA IN 21ST CENTURY’ THURSDAY, 9TH SEPTEMBER, 2010
Rector Panov, distinguished guests, professors, students, ladies and gentlemen.
Добрый день - Good afternoon.
It is an honour for me to have the opportunity to address you here today at the Diplomatic Academy. It is a privilege to be counted among the honorary graduates of this eminent and venerable Academy and so I thank the Diplomatic Academy for its kindness to me and to the Irish people in conferring on me an Honorary Doctorate.
This institution has a long and proud history of educating generations of career diplomats and international relations specialists, from Russia and far beyond. I am delighted to see among us Ambassador Nikolai Kozyrev who is both a pillar of your Academy and a very distinguished former Ambassador to Ireland.
Diplomacy plays a crucial role in developing and maintaining relations between states and peoples. It forms part of the architecture of international relationships across which strangers interrogate each other’s cultures with a respectful curiosity and a determination to bring an informed balance to minimise the world’s capacity for chaos and to maximise its potential for peace, prosperity and progress through national and international effort. Diplomacy is thus every bit as relevant in the changing, high-tech, instant messaging world of the 21st century as it was in the days when a letter might take two months to arrive by diplomatic bag. While diplomacy has been described rather cynically as war by other means, in reality in today’s world with its growing embrace of democracy and human rights, the diplomatic skills that you are learning here are designed to build bridges between people and between nations, to promote mutual understanding and respect and to facilitate the pursuit of common interests.
Today I would like to address relations between Ireland and Russia in the 21st century looking at the challenges and opportunities we face and perhaps offering some ideas about how we can fulfil the potential they offer. Much has changed in the world since diplomatic relations were first established between Ireland and the then Soviet Union in 1973. In that same year, with the creation of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the East and West came together to discuss ways of defusing the tensions of the Cold War and improving security on the continent in all its dimensions. These talks led to the signing of the Helsinki Final Act in 1975 – a decisive turning point in modern European history marking the beginning of the end of the Cold War.
The year 1973 also marked a major turning point in the modern history of Ireland as we became full members of what was then the European Economic Community, later the European Union. For us, membership of the European Union has become a central framework for pursuing our foreign policy objectives and we recognise and support the key role played by the Union in ensuring political and economic stability in Europe. Closer to home, our membership considerably stabilised and enhanced relations with our next door neighbour Great Britain which had historically been unhappy and often marked by conflict. While relationships between London and Dublin were improving, the dissolution of the Soviet Union in late 1991 added a new impetus to relations between Moscow and Dublin.
In the years since then, I’m pleased to report that we have seen a steady deepening in our relationship with a significant increase in economic, political, educational and cultural exchanges between our two countries and our two peoples.
Both Ireland and Russia have lived through considerable political, economic and social change in the last two decades. As we have engaged with the world more intensely and opened our economies to global trade, some of these changes have brought strains and difficulties, as well as evident benefits and opportunities which are an important legacy to future generations and markedly better than anything available to past generations.
The momentum behind these advances is in our care – we are its custodians and our diplomats have a very pivotal role as both guardians and generators of that momentum. Where the past was characterised by an emphasis on what differentiated us, today we focus on what we share and what we can achieve together.
Ireland and Russia share a strong commitment to, and belief in multilateralism. Our modern system of multilateralism can be traced to the period following the great tragedy of the Great Patriotic War – a time of especially huge suffering for the Russian people. The multilateral institutions put together at that time reflected the hard and bitter lessons learned in the war and the common desire that such bloodshed, slaughter – and, yes, evil – should never be allowed to occur again.
While the multilateral institutions established after the Second World War were used with some success, the bipolarisation during the Cold War era blocked them from achieving their real potential. In the decades which followed the ‘bipolar’ era of the Cold War, we have seen a strengthening in the influence of international organisations and regional groups. We have also seen a steady growth in the importance of non-state actors. Rapid advances in technology and modern means of transport have made the world a much smaller place. This has facilitated greater levels of international trade and increased interdependency in areas such as energy and other natural resources. The corollary of this is that we are now faced with new security threats that are transnational in origin or by their nature. Organised crime and terrorism do not respect international borders.
The recent global financial crisis also demonstrates the interconnected nature of the global economy. However, if we continue to act well together, the crisis can be contained and we will be, hopefully, on the road to recovery.
It is clear that the challenges of the 21st century are truly global in nature and can only be overcome if the international community is willing to work together. Greater globalisation and interdependency demands a greater commitment to multilateralism, and to its institutions.
Multilateralism offers the right mechanism to help build stability and ensure a fair, credible and consistent system of global governance. In today’s world of emerging power centres and new security threats, the primacy of international law is just as important for larger states as it is for smaller states. If, as an international community, we can ensure an equitable rules-based approach to relations between states, all states will have the opportunity to develop and prosper in a stable and secure environment.
The importance of multilateralism and active participation in multilateral organisations has been central to Ireland’s foreign policy since independence. Ireland has long been an outward-looking nation. For centuries before our independence in 1922, Irish people travelled far and wide in search of opportunity and today our global Irish family is one of our strongest resources. Our foreign policy is shaped by our position as an open,
export-oriented democracy. Our membership of, and active participation in, organisations such as the United Nations, the European Union, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe has allowed us to pursue our interests on the world stage, taking our responsibilities to international peace very seriously and yet not compromising our country’s military neutrality.
Ireland’s commitment to an international order based on the rule of law and the peaceful settlement of disputes has led to the United Nations being a core element of our foreign policy. Many Irish men and women have served with distinction on UN security and other missions overseas – sadly, some have given their lives on these missions for the cause of peace. Ireland has also had a long-standing commitment to the elimination of nuclear weapons and the prevention of further proliferation of nuclear weapons capability and we were centrally involved in the negotiations leading to the signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968. Indeed, in recognition of this, our then Foreign Minister, Frank Aiken, was invited to this very city to sign the Treaty and make the closing speech of the ceremony. It’s a privilege to follow in his footsteps today as the first Irish President to visit the Russian Federation.
We were also able to play a key role in the successful Review Conference on this Treaty earlier this year. I know that Russia shares our goal of removing the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons. The signature by Presidents Medvedev and Obama of the new START Treaty in Prague in April was a very welcome development and the challenge now for the international community is to build on the progress following the new START Treaty and the successful NPT Review Conference.
When we joined the European Union, some in Ireland feared that move would lead to a loss of sovereignty and that our national identity would somehow be overwhelmed. As a small colonised nation which had fought hard for its freedom and its identity, these fears were very understandable but have proven to be unfounded. Indeed, our sense of national identity has never been stronger. Irish culture has a growing following around the world, including here in Russia. Access to this huge internal market played a key role in the economic development and success Ireland has enjoyed since joining the European Union and today is a central feature of our export-led economic recovery. Our experience of EU membership has contributed enormously to our self-confidence, and our belief in what we can achieve as a nation and it has given us an opportunity to make a contribution to the world well beyond our own shores. In today’s globalised and increasingly interdependent world, Ireland and its EU partners work together to promote international peace and security, democracy, human rights and economic development.
Russia’s relations with the EU have evolved and expanded hugely since 1991. We share a commitment to building a lasting partnership based on common interests. In a sign of the strength of our relationship, and its relevance to the 21st century, the EU and Russia have agreed to come together to work on a Partnership for Modernisation initiative. This important project provides an opportunity for the EU and Russia to engage on real issues of reform that will benefit both parties.
From an Irish point of view, interest in Russia is growing even keener as we get ready for 2012, when Ireland will take on the Chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The OSCE has pioneered the concept of comprehensive security for the whole European area. This is a multifaceted concept which includes the three essential dimensions of security: political and military issues; the human dimension; and economic and environmental security. Ireland has always attached a particular importance to the human dimension and we strongly believe that a focus on the dignity and rights of the individual human being must form an intrinsic aspect of comprehensive security.
The potential of the OSCE in the field of conflict resolution and prevention has not yet been fully realised but in its current discussions on the future of European security – the so-called ‘Corfu Process’ – there is a fresh energy which has enabled a root and branch review of security across the three dimensions. By working to strengthen the OSCE’s capacities and ensuring implementation of existing commitments, we can play our part in building a stronger, more effective, OSCE which will benefit all in the region.
In taking on the Chairmanship role in 2012, Ireland will be in a position to contribute to the promotion and development of comprehensive security across the OSCE region in the 21st century. We look forward to the task and of course our Chairmanship will allow us to draw on our experience of conflict resolution on our own island where the
Northern Ireland Peace Process has seen once embedded violence, paramilitarism and sectarian division replaced by a new culture of tolerance, understanding and cooperation.
We have learnt the hard way that the work of conflict resolution is most definitely a process and not an event. There is no quick fix, there are plenty of setbacks along the way and huge resources of courage, patience and resilience are required to secure the prize of peace. While the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998, signalling a willingness on all sides to compromise and a desire for peace, in reality it took the best part of the next decade to implement the Agreement’s core elements and establish a robust framework for peace and stability.
A key enabling factor in overcoming the various implementation challenges along the way was the strategic partnership between the Irish and British Governments. That partnership, as I mentioned earlier, did not always exist; in fact, when the violence in Northern Ireland flared up in the late 1960s, the two Governments had very different views about the nature of the conflict and how it should be addressed. However, once Ireland and the UK became members of the EU in 1973, they began to work constructively together as equal partners in a multilateral context. Through that engagement in Europe, space was created for the two countries to respectfully engage with each other on the difficulties in their bilateral relationship and to become full partners in the quest for peace and political stability in Northern Ireland.
What we have achieved in Northern Ireland would not, of course, have been possible without the help of the broader international community and friendly supporting countries and we are most grateful to them for all the support they gave to us during the long and difficult journey to peace. This kind of close friendly, supportive cooperation with other participating States will be central to the success of our OSCE Chairmanship and we look forward to working closely with Russia, as a key member of the OSCE region, during our year in office.
Ireland’s strong commitment to human rights and multilateralism is also expressed through our membership of the Council of Europe, another international forum where we work together with Russia.
It was once thought that globalisation would make diplomacy redundant. We know now that the contrary is true. Things change rapidly. Man made problems and natural disasters keep us all glued to the television news whether in Moscow or Dublin. The immediacy and intimacy of global communications involves us directly in each others lives with great speed and not always with great accuracy. The ease with which we reach for stereotypes, the tragedy of unkind demonization of one culture by another, the rapidity with which unprocessed and badly analysed information can skew our thinking – all these flaws inherent in modern communications underpin the importance of our global cohort of diplomats. Highly educated, skilled in serious scholarly analysis and immersed in foreign cultures and societies, they have a unique capacity for making us a harmonious global family of friends rather than a global cacophony of strangers. The challenge for diplomacy today, and the challenge that you will face throughout your careers, is to develop an international community that cooperates effectively and acts decisively with intelligence, with care and with integrity. You do not do it alone. The international institutions which we created together and which incorporate the shared norms and values of our peoples, whether Russian or Irish, these are your rock, your shelter and your guide. Use them well and together, Ireland, Russia and the global community, can make the 21st century the era of true multilateralism and perhaps even true global peace.
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