Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a pleasure to be here today.
I am keenly aware of the important work that the ‘Asia Matters’ group carries out for Ireland-Asia relations and I would like to commend the Asia Matters team, led by Chairman Alan Dukes and Executive Director, Martin Murray, for their efforts to build dynamic business links and foster informed understanding between Asia and Ireland.
As trade between Ireland and Asia strengthens at a rapid rate, Asia Matters is playing a very important role in growing that relationship and further deepening our connections and mutual understanding.
Today’s ‘Asia 360° one day leadership summit’ brings together an impressive range of business leaders, policy makers and journalists. It is a high-quality schedule of events and I want to compliment those involved in organising it and its sponsors [PWC, A&L Goodbody, IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland].
In my contribution today, I want to fill you in on what Government is doing to develop trade with Asia.
Asia is the engine of global economic growth. The speed of development is staggering. Two of the world’s three largest economies are in Asia-Pacific which now accounts for over 30% of global GDP and is expected to make up 60% of the world’s middle class in the next decade. Asia’s dynamic countries are anticipated to continue to lead global development into the future; with growth of 5.5% across the region expected this year alone.
The Asian market has over two billion consumers. This represents an exciting opportunity for Irish companies which have the capability to engage and can offer world class products and services. For Enterprise Ireland’s companies, Asia-Pacific delivered double-digit growth in 2016, with an impressive 16% year-on-year gain, making it the second-fastest growing region for the agency’s clients last year.
Improvements in connectivity have been key to this growth, and will be key for future development. I was delighted with the recent announcement by Cathay Pacific that it has chosen Ireland as one of its new routes direct from Hong Kong from the summer of 2018.
This will be the first ever direct scheduled passenger service between Ireland and anywhere in the Asia Pacific region. This new service will help foster the growing trade, tourism, education and cultural links between Ireland, Hong Kong, and the rest of the region at large – all issues at the heart of your “Asia Matters” agenda. We hope it will be the first of many such direct routes between Ireland and Asia.
In recognition of the strategic importance of Ireland’s relationship with the region, the Programme for Government commits to develop a new cross-sectoral Asia Pacific Strategy, which encompasses our engagement across the broad spectrum of our interaction with the region, including our political, economic and cultural relations, as well as our diaspora connections. The objective of significantly developing trade with the region will be a central pillar of the strategy, as we fully recognise the potential to build resilience into our economy, by increasing and diversifying our export markets and broadening our FDI sources in Asia Pacific.
As my colleague Minister d’Arcy mentioned this morning, Ireland was delighted to be admitted last month as the 58th member of the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank. I believe that the AIIB will make a positive contribution to economic growth alongside existing International Financial Institutions, including the Asian Development Bank.
In response to the scale and complexity of the challenges that Ireland faces in the years ahead, the Taoiseach has set an ambitious target to double Team Ireland’s global footprint by 2025. I am now working closely across Government and with the agencies of my Department, on developing options to expand our footprint and influence internationally in a very tangible, impactful, way.
We are intensifying our efforts to diversify our trade portfolio as we prepare for Brexit – I couldn’t possibly address you as Business, Enterprise and Innovation Minister without mentioning Brexit!
An enhanced programme of global trade visits and trade events is being undertaken this year, including some 145 trade promotion events and over 40 international ministerial led trade missions to further develop and deepen global business and trade opportunities for Irish-based enterprises.
In September, I was delighted to lead a very successful trade mission to Japan and to Singapore. Given the critical importance of our relationship with Asia and the opportunities there, I believed that a trip to the region should be a priority for me upon taking up my current position.
The mission was an occasion to meet with my counterparts to discuss global political issues and our common interests. It also provided an opportunity to position Ireland as a post-Brexit solution for companies across the Asia-Pacific region. It was designed to help Irish companies to further their relationships with new and existing customers, and deepen relationships with existing IDA clients, to promote further investments for Ireland.
I met with Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, and the Minister for Trade and Industry, during which we discussed our shared commitment to global trade and to the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. We exchanged views on the impact of Brexit on trade, and the opportunities for Singaporean firms to expand their markets in the EU, using Ireland as a hub.
In Japan, the third largest economy in the world, I held further high-level political meetings and discussed exciting opportunities for both countries arising from the EU Japan Economic Partnership Agreement. It’s exciting to see the 19% growth achieved by Enterprise Ireland client exports to Japan with further strong growth projected this year.
I also held a large number of important meetings with businesses and their representative organisations, involving the 60 Enterprise Ireland client companies who participated in the Trade Mission. It was wonderful to see that many of them, including for example Combilift, ICDL Asia, and Novaerus, announced new partnerships and business during our visit, highlighting the increasing worldwide reach of our Irish companies.
My visit aimed to strengthen our ties to Asia and raise awareness of what Ireland can offer, both as a potential location for companies from the Asia-Pacific region and as a source of high-quality, innovative products and services.
A further trade mission to Australia in recent weeks highlighted the importance of the Australia and New Zealand markets as a gateway to the Asia-Pacific region.
I am very proud of Irish industry, and proud of our agencies, who work so hard to promote Ireland as a source of world-class products and services across the healthcare, engineering, education, aerospace and digital sectors.
Throughout my visit to Singapore and Japan, I stressed the important role that Ireland can play for Asian companies looking to locate part of their business in Europe in the context of Brexit. As a committed member of the European Union, Ireland has an excellent mix of a stable democracy, a skilled and talented workforce, a track record and a pro-business environment to offer potential and existing client companies.
Both the IDA and Enterprise Ireland are working with client companies to ensure that they are “Brexit ready” and the range of activities by my Department and agencies to support the broader enterprise sector was set out in the document “Building Stronger Business” which I launched with the Taoiseach yesterday. Our focus nationally, and at firm level, must remain on competing, innovating and diversifying trade and investment.
The European Union is among the most important partners for Asian countries and the EU-Asia trade agenda is moving ahead swiftly.
I particularly welcome the recent progress towards the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement. This landmark agreement aims to send a powerful signal that international cooperation is the way to tackle global challenges and is an important stand against protectionism. In practical terms, it will allow Ireland and Japan to do more business together.
Recent progress on EU Agreements with Vietnam and Singapore, and the success of the EU-South Korea Trade Agreement, are also strengthening cooperation and economic growth between our regions.
China’s ambitious One Belt One Road Initiative, including six corridors across Eurasia, will activate further trade links and open up new markets between us.
The EU-China relationship is critically important and interdependent. China is the EU's biggest source of imports, and its second-biggest export market. China and Europe trade on average over 1 billion Euros per day. The EU-China 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation was jointly adopted in order to deepen and broaden our cooperation across a wide range of areas, including the ambition to conclude an EU-China Investment Agreement.
Ensuring the EU’s relationship with Asia is inclusive and takes account of all countries in the region, especially those with which we have, or are building strategic partnerships, is something which Ireland has consistently supported. I firmly believe that a stronger EU relationship with Asia will mean a stronger relationship between Ireland and Asia. Ireland, as one of the world's most open, export-based economies, relies on continued open access to international markets for our economic growth. The combination of export-led growth and foreign direct investment has transformed the Irish economy over recent decades.
Export growth in Ireland has been exceptionally strong and last year the value of exports from Ireland reached a new record level of €259 billion. This year, I’m delighted to say that the value of our exports continues to rise. 2016 was also a record year for Foreign Direct Investment in Ireland, with IDA companies creating nearly 19,000 new jobs in 2016 across a range of sectors, with every region of Ireland benefitting. I’m delighted to say that the IDA has continued its strong performance into 2017.
While Ireland has come through a difficult number of years, our economy is the fastest growing in the EU for the third successive year. Our growth now comes from a range of sectors and is not tied to too narrow a base as may have been the case before.
Against that happy backdrop, I believe that for Ireland, Asia is truly a land of opportunity. There are numerous new and emerging markets in Asia with huge growth potential and our businesses have the expertise and the ability to succeed there.
We offer first class food and agri-products and services, leading financial and legal services, excellent education programmes, world-class high-tech companies, the best location for inward investment in Europe, and much more besides. This all adds up to a “win/win” scenario for both Irish and Asian entrepreneurs and their businesses.
Today’s summit provides an ideal chance to explore opportunities to further develop Ireland’s relationship with Asia and I thank “Asia Matters” for creating that opportunity.
I look forward to discussing these opportunities with you over lunch and into the future.