Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 16: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the locations he has visited since his appointment as Minister; the locations and industries he foresees as potential for export trade; the specific barriers that need to be overcome; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13896/11]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

On 11 and 12 March I visited Budapest to attend an informal meeting of EU Foreign Ministers. I visited New York for St. Patrick's Day events before travelling on to Washington D.C. for a bilateral meeting with the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. In New York I addressed the Ireland–US Council and met with U.S. based Irish business networks. I also attended a Bank of America - Enterprise Ireland Technology Innovation event in which Irish high-tech companies met with some of the leading technology companies in the US. I attended the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 12 April and visited London at the start of May where I met with the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Foreign Secretary William Hague, as well as a number of key Enterprise Ireland clients.

On 13 May, I visited Oslo and had discussions with the Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, and a separate meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Støre. More recently, I attended an OECD meeting in Paris last week and took the opportunity to meet with the French Foreign Minister, Alain Juppé, as well as my counterparts from Australia and New Zealand, and to speak with them on economic matters.

While exports to some of our historic trade partners continue to perform well, in an era where developing countries are seeing extraordinary growth, as a small open economy we must seek to diversify wherever possible. The BRIC countries, together with a number of countries in East Asia, Africa and the Gulf, have been identified as priority markets for Ireland's exports. These are high growth economies with rapidly growing middle classes where there is potential for increased trade and investment. Export industries identified as having the best potential for increasing economic growth and spurring job creation in Ireland include the cleantech, software, life-sciences and agri-food sectors. Food and drink exports, for example, rose by 11% in 2010, and as societies in Asia become richer and their food preferences change, there is clearly much potential for further growth.

The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation continues to have lead responsibility for trade policy, which includes the promotion of Ireland's trade interests in the context of the EU Common Commercial Policy and the WTO. That Department represents Ireland on a number of EU committees which discuss both tariff and non tariff barriers in the context of ongoing EU Free Trade negotiations. The EU's Market Access Advisory Committee seeks to address non-tariff barriers in key international markets which vary across markets.

My Department and the Embassy network co-operates closely with other Departments and State Agencies in overcoming barriers to trade and in assisting companies with knowledge of the local commercial environment in markets where they are present.