Vol. 503 No. 7
32 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he has satisfied himself with the efforts of An Bord Bia in promoting Irish food; and his views on the recent promotional campaign at The Green Week in Germany. [10976/99]
Since its establishment just over five years ago, An Bord Bia has consistently striven to access and exploit every viable market for Irish food and drink products. A measure of the success of this organisation is the fact that Irish exports of food and drink in 1998 reached an all time high of over £5 billion.
Participation at the International Green Week in Berlin is but one of the strategies the board has undertaken to promote Irish food products on export markets. This event is recognised as the largest consumer food fair in the world and in 1999, it was attended by over 483,000. As well as providing an important opportunity to showcase Irish food and drinks to an international audience, green week is a significant forum for the agri-food industry and also provides valuable public relations opportunities. This year's event was particularly useful in that it coincided with the return of the seat of Government to Berlin and marked the beginning of the German Presidency of the European Union.
