I thank the Chairman and committee members for giving us this opportunity to brief them on the role of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the embassy network in trade promotion and general economic messaging. As the Chairman mentioned, some members of the committee will shortly visit Atlanta, Houston and San Francisco to consider the work of Ireland's consulates general in the United States. In that regard, I am pleased to be joined by my colleague, Mr. Niall Burgess, director general of the Anglo-Irish division. The consulates report to his division and that of Mr. Joe Hackett, director general of the North America unit. My two colleagues from the trade promotion division are Ms Kay Coll, director of trade promotion, and Mr. Aidan O'Hara, director of economic messaging and cultural relations.
The mission statement of the Department is to promote and protect abroad the values, interests and economic well-being of Ireland and its people. A core high-level goal of our current strategy to 2014 is to promote Ireland's economic interests in Europe and internationally. The full resources of the Department at headquarters and through the embassy network are committed to this end and the strengthening of Ireland's reputation internationally.
In the past there have been other priorities for the Department and the embassy network, most notably the work at home and abroad in pursuing peace and reconciliation on the island. I certainly assure the committee that the key over-riding priority for us now is the contribution we can make to the Government's agenda of renewed and sustainable economic growth by leveraging the strength of the embassy network as a platform for trade promotion and getting the message out about Ireland's strengths in innovation and key industrial sectors.
The team in the trade promotion division which I lead acts as the interface between the embassy network abroad and State agencies, other Departments and the private sector in this context. It is worth emphasising that the embassy network has always been involved in promoting our trade and economic interests abroad. When he addressed the ambassadors conference convened around this time last year, following on the commitment given in the programme for Government, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, stated the Department's new and enhanced role in trade promotion was "in part recognition of the valuable contribution our embassy network has been making to our economic recovery."
There is no doubt that, alongside its ongoing foreign policy and diplomatic functions, including consular support for citizens abroad, the Department and the embassy network are now focused more than ever on Ireland's trade, investment and tourism interests. We are determined to respond effectively to the enhanced responsibilities assigned to us in trade promotion by the Government and continue to work closely with our colleagues in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation who are responsible for trade policy. We will also work with State agencies reporting to that and other Departments. I assure the committee that we recognise fully that we will be judged on the ongoing contribution we can make through the embassy network to the economic and trade promotion agenda.
In contributing to economic recovery we are guided by the Government's global trade agenda to 2015, Trading and Investing in a Smart Economy, which was agreed by the relevant Departments with full buy-in by State agencies based on their own challenging targets in the various overseas markets and sectors. The Export Trade Council, chaired by the Tánaiste, oversees implementation of the trade strategy and meets twice a year at high level, with the involvement of the relevant Ministers and senior officials, the chief executive officers of Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Bord Bia, Tourism Ireland, Culture Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland, as well as a number of individuals from the private sector with relevant experience, including representatives from IBEC and the Irish Exporters Association.
In the priority markets - both mature and emerging - identified under the trade strategy we have put in place local market teams chaired by our ambassadors, with the State agencies participating. They draw up annual market plans and report on them to the Export Trade Council through my division. These plans focus, in particular, on areas where a co-ordinated embassy and State agency approach to the promotion of Ireland's economic interests is likely to yield best results. At its second meeting in February under the Tánaiste's chairmanship the Export Trade Council reviewed plans for this year. In the autumn it will consider mid-year implementation reports.
Arising from the Government's decision on the transfer of trade promotion functions last year, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade works even more closely with Enterprise Ireland on its annual programme of ministerial trade missions and other trade events. There are approximately 15 trade missions each year, with our embassies working closely with Enterprise Ireland in the field. The Tánaiste and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation consult on and approve this annual programme under the new arrangements for trade promotion. I instance two examples this month of the close co-operation between the Department and Enterprise Ireland in this context. Last Thursday, having met the British Foreign Secretary, Mr. William Hague, in London, the Tánaiste spoke that evening at an Enterprise Ireland dinner in our embassy, which was attended by a large number of representatives of Irish and British companies in the green, energy and utilities sectors - that is an area which offers significant potential for co-operation between Ireland and the United Kingdom. Next week the Minister of State with responsibility for trade and development, Deputy Joe Costello, will lead an Enterprise Ireland trade mission to Russia, on which there has been very close co-ordination between the Department and Enterprise Ireland, both at headquarters and on the ground with the embassy and representatives of Enterprise Ireland in Moscow. We will be joined by representatives of Irish companies on that trade mission, as is usual in such missions.
It is worth noting that all BRIC - Brazil, Russia, India and China - countries are included in the Enterprise Ireland programme of trade missions approved by the Tánaiste and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation for this year. I am sure the committee is aware of the successful trade mission led by the Taoiseach to China in March and other ministerial trade visits to that country so far this year. The Tánaiste intends to visit China in the autumn and it is now normal practice to include a strong trade and promotion element, where possible, in all visits overseas by the Tánaiste and the Ministers of State, Deputies Joe Costello and Lucinda Creighton. That is in addition to specific Enterprise Ireland trade missions involving Irish companies in targeted sectors.
The Export Trade Council also agreed at its February meeting to involve members of the Global Irish Network, as appropriate, in trade missions and other ministerial visits. Network members were involved in the Taoiseach's visit to China and last Friday when we were in London with the Tánaiste, he met members of the network. Members of the network have also signed up to engage with Enterprise Ireland client companies and 130 of them have agreed to be advocates in a range of sectors, including exports, investment and the major tourism initiative for 2013, The Gathering.
Consequent to the transfer of trade promotion functions, the Department has lead responsibility for the joint economic missions in place for a number of key emerging markets for Ireland, including China, Russia, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. Where government to government contact is important for the development of bilateral trade, economic relations and other sectors such as co-operation in scientific research, the trade promotion division co-ordinates across government an agency approach to the work of these missions which meet, on average, every two years. We expect to have meetings of the joint commissions with China and South Korea later this year. I am pleased to say there has been a productive outcome from the most recent joint commission with Russia in November 2011, which was chaired by the Tánaiste on our side, with five working groups in place to pursue work in key sectoral areas, four of which met last month in Dublin. There is close co-operation between the trade and promotion division of the embassy in Moscow and Enterprise Ireland on this follow-up work. While the joint economic commission model is not appropriate to most or even many markets, we are determined that where they are in place, they should be leveraged for practical results in the context of our broader economic and trade agenda.
The close co-operation between the Department and State agencies is reflected in a willingness to commit to an "Ireland House" approach wherever possible. Seventeen of Enterprise Ireland's overseas offices are currently co-located with our embassies. The IDA, Tourism Ireland and Bord Bia are also co-located with embassies in some locations. In some countries, co-location is not feasible, for example, where the administrative capital is not a key commercial centre. The local market teams I referred to and that are now in place in priority markets can help to overcome any disadvantages that arise in this context. Ambassador Dan Mulhall in Berlin told us yesterday, during a video-conference link-up with him as part of our trade promotion training for those colleagues who have been posted abroad this summer, that he convenes regular plenary meetings of the local market team, even though the relevant State agencies in Germany are located in Frankfurt and Düsseldorf. He also spends a significant portion of his time travelling by train throughout Germany to support State agency objectives.
The programme for Government affirmed a determination to "restore Ireland's standing as a respected and influential member of the European Union as part of the wider international community". This was indeed the focus of the special conference of Ireland's ambassadors in June 2011, which included participation by a range of representatives from private sector companies, as well as our State agency colleagues. To support this active reputational work and economic messaging by the embassy network, the trade and promotion division manages an intranet economic information site that is updated daily with alerts issued to all of Ireland's diplomats abroad in the field. The material posted includes, for example, key statements by the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Ministers, briefing material from the Department of Finance, the Central Bank, the NTMA and the Central Statistics Office, as well as a range of targeted messages, including video clips from the State agencies. It is not necessarily confined to Government or official material and we are ready to draw the attention of our colleagues abroad to all messages that will serve to promote the economic recovery agenda. Much of this material is shared in a dedicated channel with members of the Global Irish Network.
We also work closely with our colleagues in the Department of Finance on economic messaging. Two Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials are on secondment there to work on related issues.
Drawing on these materials on the Internet that I have mentioned and on the regular engagement with the Department headquarters, including through video-conferencing, which we are using increasingly due its cost-effective nature, the entire embassy network, whether it is in Valletta, Washington, Paris, Vilnius, Buenos Aires or Beijing, has intensified its effort over the past year to reinforce the renewal of confidence in Irish economic recovery. Our diplomats, whether in the one, two or three-person missions, which make up the majority of missions, or in the small number of somewhat larger embassies, have engaged across the board, be it at Head of State or Government level or with Ministers, key parliamentary figures, senior officials, editorial boards, editors of opinion pages, business correspondents, central bankers and business leaders, those in positions of influence in financial services and so on. Ambassadors regularly give interviews in the print and broadcast media and distribute policy statements to key contacts in their country or, in many cases, countries with accreditation, because many of our embassies are doubly or even triply accredited. Ambassadors have also been instrumental in establishing Irish business networks in key markets. I was on a trade mission with the Minister of State to South Africa last November. Our ambassador had established a new Irish-South Africa business association.
A key part of the economic messaging effort is the placing of opinion pieces by the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Minister for Finance in prestigious international business papers and other media. The most recent example is the placing of an opinion piece by the Tánaiste in the aftermath of the recent referendum on the fiscal treaty, which appeared in The Guardian, Libération, El País, Il Sole 24 Ore and Neue Zürcher Zeitung. It should be emphasised this co-ordinated placing of positive messages about our economic prospects is only possible on the basis of the longer-term, on-the-ground relationship building with key editorial figures by our embassies in Paris, London, Madrid, Rome and Bern. Similar opinion pieces by Ministers were placed last year in prestigious newspapers internationally with a combined circulation of 16 million, all with the same positive message on our work towards economic recovery.
The embassy network, with support from the trade and promotion division, has also facilitated interviews and background meetings by Ministers, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance with key broadcast media such as Bloomberg and CNN, as well as Agence France-Presse, The Wall Street Journal,International Herald Tribune, Handelsblatt, Les Echos, Le Figaro, Le Monde and La Stampa.
Each year the Department and embassy network work to derive the maximum reputational and economic benefit from the unique opportunity represented by the St. Patrick's Day period. The embassy network makes recommendations to the Department for a ministerial presence, and these are evaluated in close co-operation with other Departments and State agencies. Options are then presented to Government for a decision. At headquarters level, in addition, the trade and promotion division works closely with Enterprise Ireland, the IDA, Bord Bia, Tourism Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and Culture Ireland, drawing on other economic material as appropriate to develop a set of key economic messages for Ministers for use across the globe during the St. Patrick's Day period, with any appropriate adjustments to local circumstances or regional perceptions of Ireland.
The committee will know of the impact of "Riverdance" across China, including at the highest leadership levels. This is perhaps one of the most prominent examples of the ways in which Irish culture, in its various manifestations, can be leveraged to promote positive economic and other messages about our country. When I reorganised the trade and promotion division at the outset of this year, following the Secretary General's departmental restructuring, I deliberately described one of the two sections in the division as the economic messaging and cultural relations section to reflect the important link between the two dimensions of our promotional work. There is a modest grant-in-aid available to us from which small-scale cultural activities can be supported by our embassies, consulates and other missions. In many cases, however, these relatively small-cost events can have a significant multiplier effect in terms of broader economic messaging. The travelling exhibition on Yeats has been used by a number of ambassadors to get across key economic messages to influential audiences at the opening receptions and during the exhibitions.
Another example is the positive impact of relatively modest cultural spending during the St. Patrick's Day period, in Beijing and Shanghai, supported by the Department, embassy and consulate general in Shanghai. The trade and promotion division works closely with the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Culture Ireland. I myself serve ex officio on the current board of Culture Ireland. The co-operation between our embassy in Washington, the consulates general in the United States and Culture Ireland during the very successful Imagine Ireland programme last year, which was also supported by the cultural side of my division, is another example of the team Ireland approach that drives our activity.
Our division and the embassy network also co-operate closely with Science Foundation Ireland to reinforce Ireland's reputation for research excellence and the Innovation Ireland brand. It is timely to mention our close co-operation with the Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government, Professor Patrick Cunningham, to promote Dublin City of Science this year and the Euroscience Open Forum, which will attract some of the most prominent international scientists to the National Convention Centre from 11 to 15 July. The Department and our embassies in key capitals have worked closely with Professor Cunningham and his colleagues in the past year to help prepare the ground for this exciting event. We were pleased to host a video conference in recent weeks for the embassy network with the participation of Professor Cunningham to reinforce the messaging about Euroscience Open Forum. I would add that this was one of the ongoing series of video conferences which the trade and promotion division organises for the embassy network with various State agencies. Again, as I said, it is a very cost-effective way of reinforcing our economic and trade promotion messaging. Other recent conferences have included Bord Bia, and the next in the series towards the end of this month will enable Tourism Ireland to speak to the embassy network about preparations for The Gathering next year.
I will refer briefly to the departmental restructuring directed by the Secretary General, Mr. David Cooney, at the outset of this year. It is designed to sharpen the departmental geographic focus on trade promotion in key country and regional markets and to provide a single point of contact for each of our embassies with headquarters in the context of the resource pressure which we all currently face. New regional entities have been established to cover all aspects of relations with particular countries, including trade promotion. These are the Asia-Latin America unit, the Europe division, the Middle East and North Africa unit, the Africa section within the development and co-operation division, and the UK and North America units within the Anglo-Irish division, headed by my colleague, Mr. Niall Burgess. The trade and promotion division, as lead liaison with the State agencies, works closely with these geographic units and divisions as well as with other relevant units, including the Irish abroad unit and the press section.
This opening statement is not intended to be an exhaustive account of the Department's trade promotion work but rather to offer an overview for the committee. With the permission of the Chair, my colleague, Mr. Niall Burgess would like to comment briefly on our trade promotion in the United States in view of the forthcoming visit by members of the committee, to which he referred. Thank you, Chairman.
