Emmet Stagg
Question:52 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will make a statement on the outcome of his recent trade mission to Korea and Japan. [33764/04]
View answerThursday, 16 December 2004
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Written answers
I led a trade mission to Korea and Japan from 14 to 20 November last. Some 26 companies participated in the mission to Korea, and 40 in the mission to Japan. This was the first ministerial trade mission to Korea organised by Enterprise Ireland, and the first to Japan since 2001. The missions included representatives of a variety of sectors, although the education, primarily third level, and high-tech sectors were strongly represented.
As always, the main purpose of the mission was to support Irish companies exporting or investigating the opportunities in Korea and Japan, and to raise the profile of Ireland as a supplier of high-quality goods and services; the latter is particularly important in a region where Ireland is still relatively little-known. I also had the pleasure of viewing the newly-opened Enterprise Ireland offices in Seoul during the mission.
In Korea, as well as meeting the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education, I addressed the higher education seminar organised in conjunction with the mission. I also met representatives of leading Korean corporations in the ICT and aviation fields, as well as leading academics.
I witnessed the exchange of a memorandum of understanding between Enterprise Ireland and the Korean Games Development Institute, which offers significant potential to develop co-operation between Irish and Korean companies in this sector. I also met the chairman of the Korean Software Association to discuss further co-operation in the software sector.
As a result of the mission, 15 articles appeared in the Korean media. This gave an important boost to Ireland's profile in Korea, where it is still relatively low. A further 11 articles appeared in Irish media, helping to encourage Irish companies to think about the possibilities offered by this market.
Japan is a more developed market for Ireland, which explains the larger number of companies which participated in this leg of the mission. However, we still need to raise Ireland's profile in Japan, and the nine news articles which appeared in Japan as a result of this mission will have helped in this regard. A further 13 articles which appeared in the Irish media will also have helped to encourage Irish companies to think about the Japanese market.
In Japan, I met senior Vice Minister Okonagi in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and opened a similar education seminar to that held in Korea. I was also pleased to have witnessed announcements by four Irish companies of major business developments in Japan and the establishment of new partnerships with Japanese companies. In addition, I presented special awards to three Japanese companies which have made significant contributions to Irish-Japanese trade. It is still too soon to give information about any specific results of the mission, but I am very confident that it was of strong assistance in raising Ireland's profile in both Korea and Japan, as well as offering encouragement to Irish companies to examine the potential in both markets. I plan to ask Enterprise Ireland, the organisers of the mission, to provide more information in relation to the mission outcomes after a suitable period has elapsed.
Question No. 53 answered with QuestionNo. 6.