Martin Browne
Question:97. Deputy Martin Browne asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if there are plans to have a trade mission to Australia later in 2021. [36098/21]
View answerTuesday, 6 July 2021
Questions (97)
Written answers
Each year, Enterprise Ireland offers a programme of trade missions and events which support the goal of securing high-level market access for companies based in Ireland who are aiming to grow business overseas and increase domestic employment.
In recent years, the majority of Ministerial-led trade missions have taken place to the Eurozone, North America and Asia Pacific, which represented the strongest growth opportunities for Irish companies. These trade missions focused on promoting the innovative capabilities and competitive offerings of Irish companies to international buyers in sectors including internationally traded services, fintech, high-tech construction, engineering, ICT and lifesciences.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Ministerial-led trade missions have been taking place virtually throughout 2021. There are no physical Ministerial-led trade missions planned for Australia in 2021 due to ongoing travel restrictions, therefore the focus of Enterprise Ireland teams on the ground will remain on working one to one with the 300+ companies doing business in Australia.
A number of virtual and physical events have taken place in the Australian market across 2021 for Enterprise Ireland clients. In March, Enterprise Ireland hosted 20 separate events for clients to coincide with St Patrick's Day. These included client pitching events in fintech, healthcare and agri sectors, as well as events in Melbourne and Sydney.
In May this year Enterprise Ireland also participated virtually in the Australia RegTech Conference, and also hosted an Asia Pacific Cyber Security event attended over 100 executives across the region, 30 of which were Australian based.
Further online events are planned for August and November in the areas of Regtech and Insurtech respectively. These events will feature Enterprise Ireland clients from these sectors undertaking product pitches in APAC markets.
My Department continues to work closely with its agencies to assess opportunities to help Irish companies to access new markets and to increase the levels of foreign direct investment into Ireland, including in markets in the Asia-Pacific region such as Australia.