Mr. Maroš Šefovi:

I thank the Chairs and honourable Members of the Oireachtas for the invitation. I am delighted to be back. Due to the time limit, I will be telegram-like in my opening remarks, because I know the committee would prefer to have an intensive question-and-answer period.

I will start with the matter we concluded on the last time, which was an expression of gratitude for the solidarity of Ireland, not only with the people of Ukraine but with all EU member states being in a front-line position and being generous and kind hosts to Ukrainian refugees and working with the rest of the EU to help Ukrainians to defend their freedom and address the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine, which resulted a few years ago in the steep energy crisis we discussed on the last occasion.

I also acknowledge and inform members that we are fully aware that 22 Irish citizens are in a difficult situation because they were part of the flotilla bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza. The EU is in close contact with the Irish Government and institutions to secure the safety of all the Irish nationals who took part in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. The position of the European Union is that humanitarian aid should be available immediately and we hope that through the new 21 point plan, this will finally be possible.

I came here because I know that trade is important, not only for the committee, but for such a trading nation as Ireland. Across the European Union, almost 30 million people are working in one way or another in sectors related to import and export. In Ireland, I understand it involves more than 770,000 people. Trade is in the Irish blood and economy and it is important for Ireland. Therefore, we are always in close contact with the Irish institutions and Government to make sure that on this turbulent front, we are in close contact with Ireland's partners.

In the past, I have spoken to the committee mostly about EU-Ukraine relations but today it is much more interested in relationships with the US. It is interested in our free trade agreement agenda and in particular in the agreement with Mercosur. The Irish agrifood industry is especially exposed to the new super-assertive position and actions taken by China against European exporters.

These are the topics I am happy to discuss with the committee. If members have any other questions, I will also be happy to respond.

I will make some final remarks, starting with the US. We are now in a situation where it is clear that the United States of America has decided to completely transform global trading partners and systems. Therefore, it has been important to be in intensive communication and negotiations with the US. We secured the best possible deal under difficult circumstances where we were talking about 15% all-inclusive tariffs and shielding important parts of Ireland's industry such as pharmaceuticals, semi-conductors and aerospace aircraft parts from future very high tariffs expected to be imposed on imports of such goods to the US in the coming days.

It is important for the committee to know - this will be my last point - that the turbulence we are witnessing right now is the main reason for our acceleration of diversification of trade. That was the reason we put on the table of our Legislature the free trade agreement with Mercosur. Mexico is one of the biggest net agrifood importers. Indonesia is the same. We are also working hard with the United Arab Emirates, India and three south-east Asian countries, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, to conclude free trade agreements as quickly as possible so we can diversify our trade portfolio and open access to new markets for our businesses. Thanks to our free trade network, we have managed to more than compensate for the 62% decline in trade we had between the EU and Russia in the past. This network of free trade agreements has also helped us to address the tensions, especially in the export sector in the first half of this year, when we were negotiating with the United States of America.