A NEW framework has been launched designed to bolster relations between Scotland and Ireland.
Ireland’s Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora, Neale Richmond met with First Minister of Scotland, John Swinney in Dublin yesterday to launch the new Ireland Scotland Bilateral Cooperation Framework 2030.
“Ireland and Scotland share deep, historic ties and a modern partnership rooted in shared values, cultural closeness and economic opportunity,” Minister Richmond said ahead of the meeting.
“My meeting with First Minister Swinney will be an opportunity to set renewed ambitions for deepening political, economic, cultural, and educational links between Ireland and Scotland,” he added.
Diaspora Minister Neale Richmond met with Scottish First Minister John Swinney in Dublin for the annual Ireland–Scotland Bilateral Review“The new Ireland-Scotland Bilateral Cooperation Framework reflects the strength of our relationship and our ambition to work even more closely together in the years ahead.”
First Minister of Scotland John Swinney said Ireland “holds a special place in Scotland’s priorities” before adding that the two nations “have much to gain” by working together.
Regarding their newly launched framework, he said: “This builds on the great progress that has been achieved since the last framework was launched four years ago, and I’m sure our partnership will continue to go from strength to strength as a result of the actions within this new one.”
The meeting at Iveagh House also provided the ministers an opportunity to discuss “latest political developments across Ireland and Scotland, and to welcome the upcoming British Irish Council Summit, which will be held in Cardiff in December” a spokesperson for Minister Richmond’s office confirmed.
“Over the last four years, Ireland and Scotland have worked jointly on six thematic areas where the Scottish Government has devolved responsibility,” they explained.
“As the Ireland-Scotland relationship continues to evolve and grow, the framework for our cooperation needs to do so too.
“It is with this aim that the new Ireland-Scotland Bilateral Cooperation Framework 2030 has been agreed, to provide strategic direction and concrete actions for cooperation to the end of the decade.”