Vol. 558 No. 6
72 Mr. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the locations to which Ireland can expect to increase its exports over the next number of years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25259/02]
Irish export performance over the past decade has been outstanding. Total exports in 2001 were more than five times the 1990 total. In that period, exports to all of our main markets increased very substantially, as did Ireland's share of global trade.
2002 has been a difficult year for exporters. While Irish export growth for the first eight months amounted to 3%, the WTO estimates that the value of global trade in the first six months of this year fell by 4% over the same period last year, indicating that Irish exports are continuing to perform ahead of the global average.
Ireland's largest markets have been the European Union, North America and Asia; the countries of central and eastern Europe – soon to be EU members – have also become increasingly important. I expect that these will continue to be our largest trading partners and that our market share in these markets will continue to increase.
Enterprise Ireland is assisting indigenous exporters in our key markets by increasing its market-based activities – overseas trade missions, participation in trade shows, bringing buyers to Ireland and undertaking pre-export programmes with young companies – and I expect that these efforts will be reflected in export outturns in 2003 and beyond.
Question No. 73 answered with Question No. 20.
