One of the primary objectives of my Department is, in co-operation with other Departments and State agencies, to use diplomatic missions to greatest effect to support Irish economic and business interests abroad.
We have embassies in all the member states of the European Union, including in the three new member states where an embassy in Finland was opened in June 1993. We also have diplomatic links with those countries who are actively pursuing European Union membership. All these missions, with the Permanent Representation in Brussels, are active, on an ongoing basis, in supporting the public and private sectors in pursuing further trade and investment opportunities both in the European Union and the applicant states.
In particular our representatives abroad are active in supporting Irish State bodies and firms in pursuing opportunities within the European Union pre-accession programme for the applicant states of Eastern Europe.
My Department is a member of the Foreign Earnings Committee, which was re-established and upgraded by the Government in 1993. This committee, under the chairmanship of the Minister for Tourism and Trade, brings together representatives of Government Departments and State bodies involved in the promotion of trade, tourism and investment. Its remit is "to achieve the necessary single-minded pursuit of Ireland's economic and commercial interest abroad by all our Agencies and programmes including the diplomatic service".
My officials co-operate closely with the work of the committee in Dublin. Embassies are fully involved with State agencies in co-ordinating official support to the Irish trade and investment effort overseas. This includes the markets of Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean countries which have also applied for membership.