St. Patrick’s Day 2013“Promoting Ireland’s Recovery”Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin T.D., will be travelling to Jakarta, Singapore and Manila to promote Ireland this St. Patrick’s Day. Minister Howlin stated “On St. Patrick’s Day, the many threads of the Irish Diaspora are drawn together into a worldwide tapestry. The esteem in which we Irish are generally held is further heightened by the global goodwill turned towards on our national feast day. It is essential that we as a Government capitalize on this opportunity. Over the course of my visit I will take every opportunity to promote trade, investment and tourism in Ireland and tell the story of our recovery.”
A key element of Minister Howlin’s visit will be meetings with senior Government Ministers and trade leaders in Jakarta, Singapore and Manila.
The Minister’s programme also includes meetings with the key Irish societies and the Diaspora in each city.
ENDS
Notes to Editor
The Minister is travelling with two officials; his Private Secretary and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Press Officer. In order to reduce costs Minister Howlin and the two officials will stay in the Irish Embassy while in Singapore. There is no Embassy accommodation in either Indonesia or the Philippines.
Minister Howlin will depart on Tuesday 12 March and will return Thursday 21 March. A wide range of meetings and networking opportunism have been organized so as to fully utilize the visit.
These include:
Meeting with IDA target company Transportation Partners/Lion Air, Indonesia
Meeting with H.E. Mr. Gita Wirjawan, Minister for Trade, Indonesia
Meeting with H.E. Dr. Marty Natalegawa, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Indonesia
Meeting with Mr. Lim Hong Hin, Deputy Secretary General of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indonesia
Enterprise Ireland Meeting, Singapore
Meeting with Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Finance, Singapore
Meeting with Asian Development Bank constituency office officials, the Philippines
Meeting with Acting President of the ADB, Mr. Bindu Lohani, the Philippines
Meeting with Mr. Florencio Abad, Secretary of Budget and Management, Ministry of Budget and Management, the Philippines
Meeting with Hon. Albert F. Del Rosario, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, the Philippines