Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 December 2015
510. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the extent to which the various Irish embassies and consulates abroad continue to promote and encourage new markets for Irish products; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45690/15]
View answerThe advancement of Ireland’s trade, tourism, investment and education promotion objectives is of central importance to our foreign policy and of the work of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and its Embassy network. Irish Embassies and Consulates-General provide a global platform for the promotion of Ireland as a business, investment, tourism and education destination.
While the majority of Irish services and merchandise exports go to Europe and the US and we must of course continue to cultivate these markets, the Government is strongly focused on the further development of trading partnerships with other important emerging markets.
The Embassy network plays a crucial role in proactively addressing market access issues, supporting Irish businesses seeking to grow overseas, holding promotional events for, and in association with, State agencies and actively contributing to the organisation and conduct of Enterprise Ireland-led trade missions and events overseas.
Our Embassy network plays an important role in the implementation of the Government Trade Tourism and Investment Strategy. In the Review of the Strategy published in February 2014, seven additional high potential and exploratory markets were identified as part of a ‘new market approach’ aimed at increasing our engagement with high growth markets in Asia, Latin America and Africa. The markets in question are as follows: Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria, Mexico, Vietnam, Thailand and Chile.
Ireland now has a presence in all but one of the above markets. Guided by the Review, new Embassies have recently been opened in Bangkok (Thailand), Jakarta (Indonesia), Nairobi (Kenya) and Zagreb (Croatia). Consulates-General have also been opened in Hong Kong (China), Austin (Texas) and in Sao Paulo (Brazil). These new Embassies and Consulates-General will strengthen Ireland’s capacity to take advantage of emerging opportunities in these important markets as well as complementing the existing trade promotion work of our Embassy network.
In November 2015, my Department hosted the fourth Global Irish Economic Forum in Dublin. Many of the participants are members of the Global Irish Network. This Network works closely with the Government and State agencies in promoting Ireland’s economic, cultural and tourism messages in key markets.
In terms of the level of Irish trade with overseas markets, the Central Statistics Office maintains a website, www.cso.ie on which the most recent trade statistics are made available to the public.
