merrion street

Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore will begin a three day visit to Washington and New York on Wednesday, 8 February, 2012.

The Tánaiste will address the United Nations Security Council in New York on Thursday 9 February in his capacity as Chair-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). He will have a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and will present the Secretary General, a former Korean Ambassador to the OSCE, with a special edition stamp produced by An Post to mark Ireland's OSCE Chairmanship.

In addition to his statement at the UN the Tánaiste will engage with key political, economic and Irish community leaders in the US as part of the Government's programme to restore Ireland's international reputation and to encourage investment in Ireland's economic recovery. This will culminate in his participation at the "Invest in Ireland” roundtable discussion organised by President Clinton in New York on Thursday, 9 February. The Tánaiste will brief the forum on the progress that has been made since the Global Irish Economic Forum was held in Dublin last year.

The Tánaiste’s programme will start in Washington tomorrow when he will be guest speaker at a round-table discussion on the crisis in the Eurozone hosted by the Brookings Institution. The Brookings Institution is one of Washington’s pre-eminent think tanks, bringing together leading experts from government and academia.

Later the Tánaiste will have meetings with senior US Government officials at the State Department and will meet with key political leaders on Capitol Hill, where his discussions will focus on the issue of immigration reform and prospects for progress on the E3 Visa programme.