merrion street

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore T.D., will chair the second meeting of the Export Trade Council this afternoon in Iveagh House. The meeting takes place on the eve of the visit by the Chinese Vice President, Xi Jinping to Ireland from 18-20 February.

There will be a media opportunity in the lobby of Iveagh House at 14.00 hrs in advance of the meeting.

The Tánaiste will be joined by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton T.D., the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Simon Coveney T.D., the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar T.D. and the Minister of State for Trade and Development, Joe Costelloe T.D. The Heads of the State Agencies that promote Ireland abroad, including the IDA, Enterprise Ireland, Bord Bia, Tourism Ireland, Culture Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland will also participate as well as private sector members of the Council including IBEC and the Irish Exporters’ Association.

Speaking ahead of the event the Tánaiste said:

“The second meeting of the Export Trade Council is an opportunity for the Council to take stock of progress, during 2011, in our key priority markets under the Government’s Trade Strategy as well as to look forward to our plans for 2012. This year is already off to an excellent start in terms of our export performance and the visit to Ireland this weekend of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping.”

“I am very pleased that our first annual progress report to the Government will show that we are on track to achieve the ambitious targets we have set ourselves.”

“I want to acknowledge the work of the Embassy network and the State Agencies during the past year. We all continue to face very challenging conditions in international markets but I’m confident that the meeting of the Council tomorrow will serve to focus our work on implementing the Government Trade Strategy for the year ahead.”