Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 733: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the overseas visits, excluding attendance at EU Council, he will make before 31 May 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2312/09]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am committed to undertaking a number of foreign trips in the next four months. I plan to visit Syria and Lebanon in early February. The visit will provide the opportunity to meet with leading political figures and deepen and extend our political and commercial contacts in both countries. I will also be meeting with members of the Irish community in Syria, and I will also visit the UNIFIL HQ at Naqoura in the south of the country.

I should also point out that, with the renewed efforts to promote a comprehensive regional peace settlement in the Middle East, Syria and Lebanon have assumed even more importance in the context of the peace process. Turkish-mediated dialogue between Syria and Israel has been underway for a number of months now, though it is currently suspended due to the Gaza conflict. Meetings with senior political figures in both countries will therefore provide an excellent opportunity to hear, at first-hand, Syrian and Lebanese thinking on current regional peace efforts and how to advance them.

Deputies will also be aware of Ireland's long-standing connection with Lebanon and the significant role which Irish peacekeepers have played in maintaining peace in the country since 1978. The visit to Lebanon will provide an opportunity to take stock of Lebanon's own political reconstruction, as well as to witness the excellent work still being carried out by UNIFIL and the small group of Irish officers stationed there.

I will visit Mexico and Cuba at the end of February. Programmes for these visits are being developed but meetings with the Mexican Foreign Minister and my Cuban counterpart are confirmed. I am visiting Mexico to underpin the strong economic and political relationship which exists between our two countries. As regards Cuba, this will be the first visit by a Minister of Foreign Affairs from Ireland to that country. It will take place at an important juncture in the development of Cuba's relations with the European Union and in the internal development of Cuba.

In addition to the regular meetings of the Council of Ministers, there are a number of regional meetings of EU Foreign Ministers, which I am currently scheduled to attend, which are:

(i) Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Hanoi, Vietnam, 25-26 May;

(ii) EU-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 27-28 May; and

(iii) EU-Rio Group (Latin American and Caribbean) in Prague, Czech Republic, 13-14 May.

A number of other visits are currently under consideration but no final decisions have yet been taken.