Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 31, 40 and 66 together.

It is planned to run Ministerial-led, separate, Trade Missions to Russia, Bulgaria and Egypt (but not Jordan), later this year. These missions will be organised by Enterprise Ireland (EI), to support the business development work of that Agency for their client companies by: Winning access for EI and EI clients to key decision-makers and influencers in target sectors; Helping the companies to consolidate existing business relationships and open new ones; Projecting Ireland as a competitive source of world class expertise, products and business partnership, and building on the positive impression of Ireland's economic success in the countries concerned; enhancing relationships between Ireland and the destination countries at business and Government levels; and providing a networking framework to encourage the companies to exchange experience and contacts.

These three trade missions will include a comprehensive schedule of engagements, meetings between the Irish companies and target customers, a series of political meetings, meeting Irish interests in those countries and the hosting of a key networking event. This event will bring together the Irish companies, their customers (existing and new), and senior business contacts of EI.

In relation to the likely budget for these missions, it is not possible at this early stage to quantify the exact costs.

The Goals and Targets for the missions are as follows: Contribute to Enterprise Ireland's strategic objectives of increasing Irish client company exports by €3 billion by end 2007, by facilitating business meetings between Irish suppliers and local partners and customers resulting in increased exports to these markets; Assist EI's High Potential Start Up clients, by enabling them to invite key target customers to the EI events and to network with larger customers; Assist Enterprise Ireland in developing new business contacts with foreign buyers in key strategic sectors; Network with other Irish companies and individuals successfully doing business in those countries; Allow first time visitors the opportunity to assess how these countries can fit into their company's business growth strategy; and Raise the profile of Ireland through the participation of an Irish Government Minister in the events during the Mission. Some of these markets are heavily influenced by political considerations, which make the participation by a Minister highly valued by the companies, as a means of enhancing their business relationships. This is especially important in markets where a significant proportion of decision-making and expenditure of interest to Irish companies is by companies which are government controlled, thus Government access via Ministerial led trade missions is vitally important.