28 Apr 2015, 17:32
Representatives from the Irish Exporters Association will appear before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade to consider trade links with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
28 March 2015
Founded in 1967, ASEAN comprises ten Southeast Asian member states with a combined population of 609 million. Trade in goods between Ireland and the ten countries of ASEAN amounted to just over €2.4bn in 2013 and just over €2.5bn in 2014.
Committee Chairman Pat Breen TD says: “The recent opening of Irish Embassies in Indonesia and Thailand brings to five the number of resident Embassies in a bloc of countries with a rapidly expanding middle class. The meeting with the Irish Exporters Association (IEA) tomorrow will provide an opportunity for our Committee to explore how Ireland can best position itself to take advantage of these new opportunities. The IEA are expected to make a number of important policy recommendations on how the Department of Foreign Affairs and state agencies can further help Irish businesses grow markets in ASEAN countries.”
The meeting commences tomorrow Wednesday 29 April at 10:30 am in Committee Room 3, LH 2000 and can be followed live here.
Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.
ENDS/
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Leinster House,
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paul.hand@oireachtas.ie
Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade
Deputies:
Pat Breen, Fine Gael (Chairman)
Eric Byrne, Labour
Bernard Durkan, Fine Gael (Vice-Chairman)
Seán Crowe, Sinn Féin
Olivia Mitchell, Fine Gael
Dan Neville, Fine Gael
Ruairi Quinn, Labour
Brendan Smith, Fianna Fáil
Maureen O’Sullivan, Independent
Senators:
Mark Daly, Fianna Fáil
Lorraine Higgins, Labour
Michael Mullins, Fine Gael
David Norris, Independent
Jim Walsh, Fianna Fáil