Mr. Martin Murray:

I will go through the briefing document which we have sent to the committee and my colleague and I will then be happy to answer any questions from the members.

The briefing dealt with expanding Ireland’s trade with ASEAN. Our focus today will be on suggested solutions to clear problems that exist in Ireland’s engagement with ASEAN. We welcome the opportunity to brief the committee in its deliberations on expanding Ireland’s trade with ASEAN.

Although starting from a low base, there is enormous market potential for Ireland in the key global economic growth region of Asia. Although Europe and the US are now understandably the key priority markets, the Asian Development Bank estimates that Asia will double its share of global GDP to 52% by 2050. Currently, a third of global wealth and two thirds of the global population are in Asia. ASEAN alone has a combined population of 625 million, 8.8% of the world’s population, with 3.49% in Indonesia alone. Ireland needs to establish a strong presence in Asia and ASEAN for the future integrity of the Irish economy.

Asia Matters would like to advise the committee on the significant progress made since last presenting to the committee on 30 January 2013 and update on recommendations to expand trade with the broader Asia region with a specific focus on ASEAN. Asia Matters was founded to fulfil the need for Ireland to have a dedicated Asia institute focused on business. It works collectively for the national good as part of team Ireland with all key stakeholders. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, has commended the work of Asia Matters as a valuable asset for Ireland in developing dynamic business links and informed understanding between Asia and Ireland.

Asia Matters is a not-for-profit, non-political, economic institute based in Dublin, dedicated to developing Ireland-Asia business relations and acting as an articulate voice registering Irish public policy within an EU-Asia context. As an educational think tank, Asia Matters works in close partnership with Government and business and academic stakeholders in Ireland, the EU and across Asia. The chairman is Alan Dukes, former Irish Minister for Finance, and I am the executive director. Separate to Asia Matters, I have the privilege of being the honorary consul of the Republic of Indonesia in Ireland.

Asia Matters has shown a strong commitment to ASEAN since its foundation and was officially launched 10 May 2012 in the embassy of the Philippines in Dublin. With a country focus on ASEAN+5, which are China, Japan, Korea, India and Mongolia, Asia Matters has good working relations with the ten ASEAN countries, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, although clearly these countries would have different priority rankings for Irish trade subject to sectors of interest.

Asia Matters provides a vital role in supporting Ireland by facilitating the development of enhanced partnership by Irish interests in EU-Asia business and cultural relations through engaging with a high-level Asian peer community in business, government and academic sectors. As Ireland develops its partnership engagement with Asia, Asia Matters works with Irish diplomatic missions and business development agencies to raise awareness of the vast opportunities in key Asian markets. Asia Matters delivers essential business learning for key stakeholders through briefings, conferences, policy research and publications. To date, it has organised 51 briefings, 22 conferences and three Ireland-Asia business yearbooks, the annual book of reference for Asia-Ireland trade relations. The recent edition, of which members have a hard copy, includes commentary from the Taoiseach and five Irish Government Ministers, along with profiles of the ten ASEAN countries, reflecting collective partnership and good working relations.

The year 2014 was a pivotal one for the work of the institute. Asia Matters commissioned a report on unlocking Asia's trade potential for Ireland with economist Marc Coleman, which provides a benchmark for Ireland's Asia engagement and maps opportunities for future trade and investment. This report outlines the need to: create a much broader awareness of brand Ireland in targeted sectors in key Asian markets; focus our market engagement in five sectors where Ireland has competitive advantage, namely, food and agritech, education and skills, tourism, ICT and international financial services; promote Ireland as the Asian business valley for Europe and expand the role of existing multinational companies to take on Asia responsibilities; comprehensively update our Asia trade strategy through collective stakeholder engagement to maximise the business potential of key relations; and build Asia competencies through educational programmes and graduate and young professional placements. It is very unfortunate that the excellent Irish FÁS programme in Japan and the Farmleigh fellowship programmes based in Singapore have now ceased.

At EU level, Asia Matters took its signature EU-Asia top economist round table series, TERT, to Beijing for the first time and ran its second in the series in Tokyo. The events reached an audience of over 500 key delegates and featured CEO-level speakers from top companies such as Airbus, Nokia, People's Bank of China, BASF, BNP Paribas, Nissan and Philips. Asia Matters has now completed six successful TERTs, establishing Ireland as a key player in EU-Asia trade relations. The year of the sheep, 2015, looks set to be a landmark year for Ireland's engagement with its partners across Asia. On the domestic front, Ireland is projected to be the fastest growing economy in the EU following years of contraction. This growth will breed positivity internally and drive Ireland's positive brand in external markets. The year began on a positive note for Ireland's Asia engagement with the conference, Global Island: Ireland's Foreign Policy for a Changing World, in Dublin Castle on 12-14 January. On the invitation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Asia Matters took part in the forum and contributed our views and feedback from our network on upping Ireland's engagement with Asia. Again, key themes echoed those highlighted by Asia Matters in our recent economic report, namely, education and global talent, food and agritech, tourism, ICT and international financial services. The event was an excellent initiative allowing Government, business and civil society stakeholders to discuss possible paths forward to progress Ireland-Asia engagement.

The team at Asia Matters spends a third of the year in Asia as we deem it very important to be in Asia and to keep up to date with what is happening on the ground with local partners. To date in 2015 the team has visited seven ASEAN cities from a total of 13 Asian cities, working closely with Irish diplomatic missions and team Ireland on the ground. Asia Matters looks forward to continuing its role in boosting Ireland-Asia engagement in 2015 through its flagship Asia Business Week Ireland and other events and publications. The 2015 edition of Asia Business Week Ireland will take place in July and will focus on the five key areas of growth. Reflecting the collective team Ireland approach, there are six Irish Government Ministers, one European Commissioner and 30 Government agencies and business organisations participating. In relation to ASEAN, a major development for 2015 is the ASEAN Economic Community, AEC, which is due to come into force under Malaysia’s chairmanship. Significantly, the EU and ASEAN have announced a resumption of their FTA talks with stocktaking planned for late 2015. Following a seventh TERT in Dublin in July and an eighth TERT in Tokyo in November, Asia Matters plans to bring its signature EU-Asia TERT series to ASEAN in 2016 to continue to brand Ireland as an integral part of Europe and a trusted business partner for Asia.

I will move on to an update on recommendations made to this committee on 30 January 2013, taking into account developments in the past two years. We are making ten recommendations. One is to seek creative ways to overcome resource challenges to bridge the competitive gap to drive Irish business with Asia. Ireland has started its engagement with Asia and ASEAN relatively late compared with other countries. For cultural and geographical reasons, Ireland has largely no historical relations with Asia, although equally no colonial baggage. The shining light in the relationship is the number of Irish in religious orders who went to Asia as educators, contributing to some of the finest academic institutions and educating some of the most talented young people in Asia, a number of whom have gone on to assume leadership roles within their countries.

Asia is only now beginning to feature on the Irish business radar. The Irish Government is taking the lead in developing relations and yet compared to competitors, Ireland has limited presence and resources, so it is critical to seek creative ways, such as public private partnerships, to overcome resource and other challenges to bridge this competitive gap to drive Irish business with Asia. A good example of this collective partnership was in 2012, when the APIBF business directory was produced In Ireland by myself and Mr. Peter Ryan, now Ireland's consul general in Hong Kong and Macau, with the support of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This was an initiative of the Ireland-Japan Chamber of Commerce, a good example of both sides working together for the greater good. Within ASEAN, Ireland is primarily concentrating its resources on Singapore, followed by Malaysia. From this solid foundation, enhanced by the new missions in Indonesia and Thailand, we need to expand a greater, targeted regional presence to capitalise on the growing opportunities in Indonesia, Thailand, The Philippines, Vietnam and Myanmar.

There could be a valuable role for team Ireland graduates or young professionals in Asia programmes, as recommended in the Asia Matters economic report of October 2014.

As we have seen on the ground, team Ireland in Asia works best when all agency and chamber representation is located in one building, the same location as the Embassy of Ireland, normally called Ireland House, with the Irish ambassador leading the team. Tokyo is a good example of how this is done effectively. Ireland needs to find a cost-effective and time-effective way to create a local presence to show that we are serious and drive business for Ireland. For example, the Indonesian Government has allocated 20% of its annual budget to education. Indonesia is sending students to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom but not Ireland. If we were to allocate an education attaché to the Irish Embassy in Jakarta, he or she could fully focus on closing off a government to government MOU on education which would lead to significant numbers of Indonesian students coming to Ireland. Such an appointment could involve secondment from a Department, Government agency or educational institution and-or could be co-funded or fully funded by the education sector in Ireland. Irish education experts in Asia with clear competence could also be ideal candidates to fill the role.

Our second recommendation is to open an Irish Embassy in Manila and encourage ASEAN countries to open an embassy in Dublin. In the 2013 briefing Asia Matters recommended opening new diplomatic missions in Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila. It is significant that the new missions in Jakarta and Bangkok, led by very senior Irish diplomats, are already creating a very positive impact on the ground as focal points for Ireland which will drive business development. It is clear that in the near future both Indonesia and Thailand plan to reciprocally open embassies in Ireland, creating a virtuous circle which will encourage more ASEAN countries to open an embassy in Ireland. There is only one ASEAN embassy in Dublin, that of Malaysia. It is clear that a London-based embassy responsible for Ireland, in addition to the United Kingdom, is stretched to commit the time and resources that it would wish to allocate to Ireland. While we work very closely with the ASEAN ambassadors in London - they are sincerely committed to Ireland - it is a question of time and resources. Vietnam is an example of a country that has committed significant time and resources to Ireland. With our effective ambassador on the ground, we now have a very positive situation where Vietnam has moved from an aid to a trade country relationship.

It is now an important priority to open an embassy in Manila because of the importance of the Philippines and the need for local engagement with the Asian Development Bank to ensure Ireland receives its share of ADB contracts. I recently visited the ADB in Manila and came across a particular opportunity for Ireland in the food and agri-tech sector. It was a contract valued at US$2 million and the person in charge was not aware of Ireland's expertise in the food and agri-tech sector. This is the kind of opportunity local people on the ground can unearth. Obviously, I reported back to the relevant agencies in Ireland.

The third recommendation is to update Ireland’s Asia strategy for the next five to 15 years, with specific plans for the next three to five years through collective engagement with key stakeholders in Ireland and Asia. The original Asia trade strategy 1999 to 2009 created an excellent focus. Although Asia has been incorporated into Irish Government reports and agency strategies, with a number of key bilateral agreements and economic forums, there is a need for a comprehensive updated national Asia trade strategy.

The fourth recommendation is to appoint a senior political-administration figure to co-ordinate a national Asia trade strategy. In 2013 Asia Matters made this recommendation to the committee. This political-administration figure, for example, a Minister of State, could work for Ireland within the EU-Asia context and engage with all Departments, Government agencies and key external stakeholders to co-ordinate trade, education, tourism and cultural activities. The highly impressive work of the Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris, who has special responsibility for international banking, including the IFSC, and his leadership in creating the IFS strategy 2020, with a clear objective to create 10,000 further jobs in Ireland's financial services sector, is an excellent role model in this regard.

The fifth recommendation is to support the development of direct air links between Dublin and Asian capitals. Regarding ASEAN, Bangkok is the obvious choice to progress, with almost 70,000 Irish visitors flying there annually. There are no direct flights from Dublin to Asia. By comparison - we understand the geography involved - there are more than 20 direct flights from Helsinki to Asia weekly. Finnair started its first direct flights to Japan in 1983. Competitively, we have a job of work to do.

The sixth recommendation is to move online to ensure a positive visa process for ASEAN business visitors and tourists. The visa process is cumbersome, time-consuming and expensive. While, of course, security protocols must be respected in terms of who is approved to enter Ireland, scanned passports and other e-friendly processes should be enhanced for bona fide applicants, particularly when applying from other countries or countries within which the physical distance is substantial.

The seventh recommendation is to create a three year forward plan of ministerial visits to key ASEAN cities and reciprocally seek to invite targeted ASEAN peer leaders to visit Ireland. The priority focus, understandably, is on China, with a limited number of high level visits to or from ASEAN countries. As with all of Asia, government is highly respected and enhanced visits by senior Irish figures would be a clear driver of business partnership opportunities. Forward planning would allow maximisation of the business impact and create a multiplier effect. For example, when in Singapore, a senior official could visit the Asia Europe Foundation, of which Ireland is a member. The foundation is very active in the educational and cultural spheres. Given how embedded Japanese business is across ASEAN countries and the pending role of the new China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, in which ASEAN countries will be a key focus, third party country visits by Ministers could also be maximised to explore how Ireland could partner with these countries in ASEAN markets.

The eighth recommendation is to follow the lead of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland by employing Asian staff in key Departments. Chinese and Japanese staff in these Irish agencies play a very valuable role. Within the cost limitations and resource structures, there is an opportunity to have some fixed-term exchanges with intern staff from peer agencies in Asian countries. This could greatly enhance the understanding of ASEAN countries.

The ninth recommendation is to create ASEAN language content on websites for Departments and trade agencies. This follows the logic of internships and exchanges with peiople from ASEAN countries. I am sure members are familiar with the expression “you buy in your own language; you sell in the customer’s language”. If we are serious about selling to ASEAN countries, we must have content in their languages. Tourism would be an obvious focus.

The tenth and final recommendation is to create multiple friendship agreements between cities, educational institutions and cultural bodies between Ireland and ASEAN countries. Given the resource limitations, the objective is to create friendship agreements rather than twinning links around specific projects - they could be short-term - such as a Dublin-Bangkok direct flight and to create a national plan to twin Irish educational institutions and cultural bodies with Asian counterparts to enhance people to people relations. This should be time fixed and target focused. In the education sector it is obvious that educational institutions are essentially selling the same products within the same markets.

Ireland needs to appoint a senior figure such as a Minister of State to consult and create an updated Asia trade strategy until 2020 which would co-ordinate the work of Government and non-Government stakeholders in a collective manner to overcome resource challenges in order that team Ireland can work better together on clear deliverables in key markets to bridge the competitive gap in Asia and essentially punch above our weight. As the Irish expression goes, ní neart go cur le chéile - there is no strength without unity.