Vol. 440 No. 7
9 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the role that Irish companies will play in the EU initiative, Gateway to Japan, which is designed to promote European exports to Japan; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
49 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the role that Irish companies will play in the EU initiative, Gateway to Japan, which is designed to promote European exports to Japan; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
65 Mrs. T. Ahearn asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the role that Irish companies will play in the EU initiative, Gateway to Japan, which is designed to promote European exports to Japan; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
67 Miss Flaherty asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the role that Irish companies will play in the EU initiative, Gateway to Japan, which is designed to promote European exports to Japan; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 9, 49, 65 and 67 together.
The European Commission has announced that the initial stages of its Gateway to Japan campaign will target small to medium sized companies in the furniture, mechanial handling, medical equipment and machine tools sectors. The programme will run in two separate phases involving information seminars in Europe and participation in trade missions and selected trade fairs in Japan. The second and final phase of the campaign, which will run between 1995 and 1996, will cover other sectors still to be decided by the Commission.
Euro Chambres, the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry, has been awarded the contract for organisation and implementation and Euro Chambres have, in turn, arranged that the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland will handle promotions in Ireland.
Activities will get underway on 26 May with an information workshop, organised by the chambers of commerce in association with An Bord Tráchtála and the relevant EC office and Irish business associations, with the aim of informing Irish industry of the full details of the campaign.
This will be followed by participation by Irish firms in a series of trade promotions in Japan including: participation at Logis-Tech Mechanical Handling Fair in October; the JIMTOF Machines/Tools Exhibition in November and the Specialists Furniture Trade Mission in December.
An Bord Tráchtála will be working closely with the chambers of commerce in relation to all aspects of the initiative and the Japanese External Trade Organisation will also be involved.
Would the Minister agree that this presents a great opportunity for many Irish exporters in the areas he mentioned? Would he also agree that Japan presents a great challenge to and possibilities for Irish exporters, having approximately 125 million consumers with the second highest purchasing power world-wide? Will the Minister ensure that Irish exporters use the provisions of this scheme to the maximum? Does the Minister recognise that part of the scheme affords opportunities to young exporters and for the training of young personnel? What steps are the chambers of commerce and agencies established to manage this scheme taking to ensure that young people are encouraged to benefit from its provisions?
Deputy Deenihan is correct to place such emphasis on Japan since it is Ireland's second largest non-European trading partner after the United States. The total two-way trade, imports and exports, in 1992 totalled £1.14 billion. It is a market on which we must concentrate and which has enormous potential. In addition, there is the problem of the Japanese market not being as accessible as other markets in the European Union and the well known Japanese reluctance to knock down trade barriers. However, with the new GATT regime I hope we will be in a better position to exploit that market. I cannot think of the name of the scheme to which Deputy Deenihan referred but there is a scheme which allows young Irish executives to participate in a programme and, if I recall correctly, three Irish people participated in that programme in 1993.
Is it part of this scheme?
Yes.
While the initiative the Minister described might be welcome, in practice it will be like many other initiatives and efforts of this kind taken over the years without any success. Unless the European Union is prepared to use its political and economic muscle to get the Japanese to open their markets even to a moderate extent — much less than European or American markets are open — all the praiseworthy initiatives will be a waste of time. Sending young Irish exporters out there will be like sending innocents to the slaughter because they will be wasting their time, unfortunately as did most of their predecessors in similar circumstances. Will the Minister urge on the External Trade Commissioner of the European Union that Europe adopt a similar attitude to the Japanese as the United States took recently when it sought to invoke the famous or infamous super 30?
In an historical context what Deputy O'Malley said is correct, that the Japanese market is the one we have had greatest difficulty exploiting. If one succeeds in making a break through, usually the Japanese find some excuse not to deal. Our exports to Japan have been increasing. Figures furnished by the Japanese authorities show that in 1993 Ireland was the only European Union country to show a growth in exports to that country. I should like to think that the conclusion of the Uruguay round of the GATT negotiations will liberalise the Japanese market to a greater extent.
At many European Union meetings and meetings to discuss the GATT negotiations and the Single Market, a kind of stand-off attitude has often been adopted to the Japanese market, in that we give out about them, they give out about us but nothing really happens. Ireland has been increasing its market share in Japan albeit from a very low base. I hope that under the new GATT regime — to be signed in Marrakech within the next fortnight — the Japanese market will become more open. I was in Japan about seven years ago and when I visited that country late last year I found a changed attitude on the part of many Japanese bureaucrats. Their economy has not improved in recent years and many of their people are coming to the conclusion that the protectionist mentality — that has pertained there for a long time is not the way to proceed. There is a growing realisation in that country that opening up trade constitutes the best way for the Japanese economy to grow.
I hope that attitude will permeate deeper into the Japanese trading experience, affording the European Union, particularly Ireland, greater opportunity to increase trade with that country. I noticed a change in attitude, as did many people who were there in 1993 which should be to the benefit of Ireland in particular.
Would the Minister agree that the young business personnel we are sending to Japan are very different from the business personnel to whom Deputy O'Malley referred? We are sending out better trained and educated people who will exploit any opportunity presented them in Japan more so than did their predecessors. When I was in San José recently I met some young people who following a visit to Japan are now working in the Silicone Valley. Would the Minister agree that there are exciting opportunities in Japan for young Irish business personnel? I appeal to the Minister to obtain as much European funding as possible for the training of young business personnel, which is most important.
That scheme is called the executive training programme — the ETP — for Japan which sends 40 young European business people to Japan for 18 months for intensive training in the Japanese language and business practices. This year there are three Irish participants in the programme.
I heard what the Minister had to say about the mentality in Japan beginning to open up, but does he agree that the statistics do not show that, rather that the whole cultural mentality in Japan is towards protectionism, selling into other markets at a rate of penetration, for example in the United States, that has caused alarm? Would he agree that mere goodwill or making pleas through some well-intentioned scheme is likely to fall on deaf ears unless very definite measures are taken as between the three great trading blocs?
As I told Deputy O'Malley, there is no point in denying that that has been the position. At the conclusion of the GATT round — I spoke to the GATT Director General, Mr. Peter Sutherland, recently — the Japanese did not prove to be as difficult as people expected. As Deputy Rabbitte and others know, there is this marked reluctance to open up their borders to trade — that is part of the Japanese culture. It is not a matter of one government or one Minister being replaced, it is part of the overall Japanese experience no matter who happens to be in power. Deputy Rabbitte was right in saying it has caused enormous difficulties in the United States, for example, because their imports from Japan have not been reciprocated. Indeed, the former British Prime Minister, Lady Thatcher, had many disputes with the Japanese Government over problems she foresaw for the British economy.
While I cannot be absolutely definite about this, at present it appears that things are changing. Since the Japanese economy has been in decline, many people in Japan are of the opinion that they must now open up their markets. Ireland has been increasing its export trade with Japan over the years. Therefore, we have been doing better than our European counterparts but undoubtedly, as Members said, there remains considerable scope for greater penetration on the part of European Union countries into Japan. That formed part of the latest GATT negotiations and is a matter that our European Union colleagues raise regularly with their Japanese counterparts. I hope that at the end of this decade we will see a considerable opening up of the Japanese economy but we must remember that we are dealing with a culture that has held this attitude for hundreds of thousands of years.
