Vol. 493 No. 3
36 Mr. Spring asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she will report on her recent visit to the United States of America; the benefits, if any, accrued for the 20 representatives of small and medium enterprises who accompanied her on the Forbairt partnership mission; and if she will report on her visit to San José, Dublin's twin city and technology business partner. [15918/98]
I led a delegation comprising senior executives from 21 Irish electronics and software engineering companies to the US from 21 June to 26 June 1998. The purpose of the visit was to foster business partnerships between US and Irish companies in the broad electronics and software sectors. The visit focused mainly on the Boston and Silicon Valley areas. The mission was organised by Forbairt and the US Small Business Administration under the US/Ireland Business Partnership Programme.
In addition, together with executives from six "linkage" suppliers to the electronics industry I met with representatives of Dell, 3 Com and Hewlett Packard.
I am pleased to say that three strategic agreements were concluded during the course of this mission. There is also considerable potential for further agreements arising from the week's endeavours.
