Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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93. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade following the review, published in February, of the trade strategy 2010 to 2015, the progress achieved to date under each of the reconfigured 16 action points; when work will commence on establishing a new trade strategy for post-2015. [37680/14]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The Government Trade, Tourism and Investment Strategy (2010-2015) is being implemented over the course of the current Programme for Government and, as the Deputy notes, has recently been reviewed in a process led by my Department and involving relevant Departments, State agencies and private sector members of the Export Trade Council.

As provided for in the Strategy, the Government established the Export Trade Council (ETC), which I chair, and Local Market Teams chaired by our Ambassadors in priority markets to strengthen cooperation and coordination across all Government Departments and State agencies involved in the promotion and development of trade, tourism and investment.

Following the completion of the Review earlier this year, the original Plan of 25 individual Action Points linked to the achievement of numerical targets has been revised into a framework of 16 Action Points grouped under three main themes: Reputation, Facilitating and Enabling, and Winning Business and Jobs.

In continuation of the practice of having members of the ETC report on activity against individual Action Points, my Department is currently seeking updates on the revised Action Plan. This material will then be collated for future consideration by the ETC.

In the meantime, I would like to bring to the Deputy’s attention, a number of examples of progress achieved on some of the reconfigured Actions Points:

Maximise Ireland’s access to international markets

Taking account of the new market approach set out in the Review, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade this year opened new Embassies and Consulates General in key locations across South East Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas which will provide a platform for further promotion of Irish exports, investment, tourism and education.

Maximise impact of St. Patrick’s Day period worldwide

As part of the ‘Reputation’ theme of the revised Action Plan model, the 2014 St. Patrick’s period saw 30 trade-focussed visits led by the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Ministers. As part of these visits, and over the St Patrick’s Day season, Embassies and Consulates helped to deliver an average of 17 promotional events and engagements each, across 133 cities in 68 countries. The Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Ministers and the Embassy network promoted key messages on trade, tourism and investment in op-eds and interviews in the international media – reaching, at a very conservative estimate, over 23.5 million people. When overseas media coverage of events that were part of the high level visits or supported by the Embassy network are added, wider audiences of at least 80 million people were reached.

Maximise the impact of integrated trade missions

In implementing the ‘Winning Business and Jobs’ theme, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade continues to work closely with Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Bord Bia and other State agencies to promote Ireland, Irish companies and Irish products overseas. This is particularly the case in relation to the preparation for and implementation of Enterprise Ireland Ministerial-led trade missions, of which 18 will have taken place during 2014. The focus of such trade missions will continue to take account of the identification of seven Exploratory and High Potential Markets under the Review and the expansion of the Embassy network. [If appropriate: I will be leading one of these missions myself to Mexico and Austin in November]

The current Strategy runs to the end of 2015 and, of course, the focus of Departments, the Embassy network and the State Agencies will be on its continued implementation over that period. My Department, in consultation with the Embassy network and other Government Departments, State agencies and private sector members of the ETC, would propose to conduct a scoping exercise in the second half of next year to examine options for future approaches in the trade, tourism, investment and education areas.