Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, arrives back to Ireland early this morning [Tuesday] at the end of a three-day trade mission to France on which Irish companies announced a number of significant contracts and alliances with a total value of €17.6m These announcements were across a range of business sectors with contract wins for companies in the agri-technology and cleantech sectors featuring strongly. This confirms the importance of these sectors as a key growth opportunity for Irish companies in the French market.
The trade mission is part of Enterprise Ireland’s ongoing intensive programme of overseas events to help Irish companies expand their presence in export markets in turn leading to job creation in Ireland. The mission was assisted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and by the Irish Embassy in Paris. Tourism Ireland, Bord Bia and IDA Ireland also participated in the mission.
Describing the trade mission as highly successful and very important in deepening Ireland’s trade and economic ties in the Eurozone, Minister Bruton said: “I am very pleased that this trade mission resulted in contracts and alliances totalling almost €18million for exporting Irish companies seeking to expand their activities in the French market. Two-way trade between the two countries is running at record levels and there is a clear opportunity for further substantial growth over the coming years. Central to the Government’s plan for jobs and growth is ensuring that more Irish companies are sustaining and growing jobs by breaking into export markets. The success of the dynamic companies I met on this trade mission gives me great confidence that we can continue to build on our export performance and create a strong engine of indigenous business to drive the jobs recovery we need”.
Among the announcements made during the trade mission were:
· Oldcastle, Co Meath based tractor hitch and excavator coupler manufacturer Dromone secured a €9.7 million contract with France’s largest exporter of agricultural products Massey Ferguson (Agco group) based in Beauvais, France.
· Tralee, Co Kerry company, Dairymaster, signed an exclusive contract with French animal reproduction and genetics company, Genes Diffusion. The initial sales will deliver €3 million and the collaboration will allow Dairymaster to deliver world class dairy equipment with the industry’s best fertility management system.
· Waterford based Environmental Services company FLI Group signed a significant contract worth €1.3m with Séché Environnoment, one of the largest waste management companies in France, for the supply, installation and maintenance of a geosynthetic membrane solution for the main waste management site at Séché Environnment in Laval(western France). A total of 8 employees from FLI International will be working on this project. Further projects are planned between Séché Environnment and FLI International both in France and in the French territories
· Global supplier of composite products and technology, Killarney Plastics, won business worth €1m with AJ Environnment for the installation and maintenance of micro waste water treatment systems in France.
Other significant contract and partnership announcements made during the mission include: Glennon Brothers with PBM Import; Dublin Aerospace with Europe Airpost; Interactive Services with Alstom; Samco with Cavac; LSM Engineering with Aliapur; AMCS with Coved and C&F Green Energy with Ecolia Energies.
Minister Bruton also attended the prestigious new offices of the Irish owned global professional recruitment consultancy, Morgan McKinley to celebrate its one year anniversary and continued success and development in France.
The mission also included a visit to the Lorient production facility of French group DCNS who have partnered with Irish tidal energy company, Openhydro, to install four under-sea tidal turbines for French utility EDF off the coast of Brittany in 2013, thereby becoming the first tidal farm to connect to the French national electricity grid and the largest tidal array in the world.
Frank Ryan, CEO of Enterprise Ireland added: ‘France represents a key market for Ireland and holds major potential for Irish companies to deepen their presence and increase export sales. Ministerial led missions to strategically important markets and trading partners such as France are a key part of Enterprise Ireland’s strategy to further scale our bilateral trade and exports to established markets. There are excellent growth opportunities for innovation-led, export focused Irish firms in the French market and Enterprise Ireland is on hand to help those companies build on these opportunities’.