At a press conference held in the RIA Novosti news agency building in the run-up to a visit of Her Majesty Queen of Denmark Margrethe II and Prince Consort to Russia, ambassador Tom Risdahl Jensen informed on the visit’s three goals: the improvement of bilateral relations, expansion of cultural ties, but most important, the development of trade-economic relations.
The visit will be paid on September 6-9, with Queen accompanied by Crown Prince and Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs. The program includes visits to Moscow and Saint Petersburg, meetings with the Russian leaders as well as participation in business seminars, the inauguration of exhibitions, visits to the offices of Danish companies. The ambassador pointed out that the official visit would take place at the time, when the sides have patched up their bilateral relations. He reminded of the visit of President Medvedev to Copenhagen in 2010 and the meetings between Vladimir Putin and representatives of the Danish business community. The reciprocal visit will be rather saturated with different meetings. For the royalties this will definitely be real work, not just pleasant pastime.
Ambassador Jensen also reminded of the history of longstanding relationship between Russia and Denmark, which dates from 1493. Denmark has never warred on Russia as kin relations tied Danish monarchs with the Russian court – Empress Maria Fedorovna, the wife of Emperor Alexander III, was Danish princess Dagmar. Many Danish natives played a prominent role in the history of Russia. Let’s recall Vitus Bering and other Danish seamen who served at the Russian Fleet. Or take the author of the famous Dahl Dictionary, in whose veins Danish blood was streaming. Trade relations with Denmark also go back to the times of old. Prior to WWI Danish companies were quite well off in Russia.
Mr Jensen noted a special emphasis placed on the business part of the visit. Last year Dmitry Medvedev and Danish Premier signed a declaration of partnership with an eye on modernization.
In the words of Mr Jensen, his country has competitive advantages in 4-5 areas where Denmark is one of the world leaders: energy efficient technologies, shipbuilding, food industry and pharmaceuticals. Russia is of interest to Denmark for many reasons and one of them is the fact that Russia is the nearest to Denmark BRICS nation. The Danish side will also focus on the attraction of medium-sized and small businesses to Russia. In exchange, Russian business is invited to invest in the acquisition of small (by Russian standards) Danish innovation companies which could be turned into an R&D platform for Russian businesses.
The sides did not forget about cultural cooperation. The Danish Artists of 1800-1850 exhibition timed to the royal visit to Russia will open at the Pushkin Museum. Here the works of Danish painters created at the time of heyday for the national art school will be exhibited. The Danish royal couple will take part in the inauguration of a photographic exposition devoted to the Arctic that will take place in the Moscow House of Photography, while the Crown Prince will also visit the opening ceremony of the Danish films festival at 35 mm movie theatre. These are just some of the planned events. Royal visits in times of economic crisis are not an easy matter. Everybody does not only expect protocol activity and nice pictures from such events, but also tangible results, especially because promoting the national business interest is by no means a new type of activity to European royalties. Monarchs make their own unique contribution to the prosperity of Denmark, where living standards are among the highest in the world. This is why the Queen of Denmark is very popular among her subjects. Almost half of the Kingdom of Denmark thinks 71-year-old Margrethe II has well deserved the right to retire and relax. However Danish Queen is not going to resign and never tired to repeat that she will remain on the throne while she is strong enough to govern her country.
