September 24, 1999
(Executive Council)

The following is being distributed at the request of Enterprise Ireland:

A trade mission of 30 Irish companies, institutes and a regional development group, headed by Tom Kitt, T.D., Ireland's Minister for International Trade, will arrive in St John's on Saturday, September 25 for a series of meetings and visits aimed at fostering increased trade, industrial and cultural links between Ireland and Newfoundland.

It is the first Irish business and trade mission to Newfoundland and it follows a similar business mission to Ireland in April this year by a group of Newfoundland companies and organisations. Both missions are a result of the Memorandum of Understanding, which was re-affirmed this year by Brian Tobin, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Bertie Ahern, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland. The memorandum pledges mutually advantageous cooperation between the province and the republic through government, industrial, business, educational and cultural exchange.

Activity under the memorandum is driven and coordinated on the Irish side by the Department of the Taoiseach and on the Newfoundland side by Ireland Business Partnerships, a specially established public/private partnership reporting to Premier Tobin and chaired by Vince Withers, former chief executive of Newtel.

To date, a number of deals have been signed between Newfoundland and Irish companies on joint activities in areas such as films and TV, electronic commerce, information sharing in education, and cooperative training and work experience. Initiatives are also supported by the St. John's Board of Trade, Enterprise Ireland, the trade and technology board of the Irish government - which has organised the present mission - and other business and education interests in Newfoundland and Ireland.

The Irish companies on the mission represent marine, information technology, environmental products and services, training, electronics and hydraulics. They will be meeting with their Newfoundland counterparts in a programme of targeted one-to-one meetings to explore the possibilities of joint ventures, technology transfer, cooperative exchanges and strategic alliances.

Speaking at the start of the mission, Minister Kitt said: "The prospects for increased partnership are excellent, because we both think alike when it comes to dynamic industrial development with a focus on the global marketplace. Both Ireland and Newfoundland have experienced tremendous export growth in the 1990s, generating trade surpluses that have helped fuel growth and improve living standards. We both have a base of natural resource industries but we have both invested heavily in the development of knowledge-based enterprises that are now spearheading our export drive.

"We are both comparatively small economies, but with the great advantage of having access to huge and affluent neighbouring markets. And we are both gateway economies, with Newfoundland a part of NAFTA and Ireland a member of the European Union. Newfoundland has established substantial export markets in Europe, and Ireland is currently doing record business in North America. Working together, in strategic alliance, joint venture, exchange of information and expertise and other forms of partnership, we have the potential for opening up new opportunities and winning more new business."

Ireland in the 1990s has established itself as Europe's high-growth economy. In fact, Ireland's economic growth performance in recent years is unmatched among the industrialised countries and is one of the most impressive anywhere in the world. The export achievements of Irish companies underpin this remarkable economic growth. Ireland is proportionately one of the world's most successful trading nations and exports, as a percentage of Ireland's GDP, is one of the highest in the world.

Over the past two decades, Ireland has transformed itself from a producer of agricultural commodities into a vibrant export-led economy, with a diversified portfolio of products and services. Traditionally, Ireland had a reputation for quality consumer goods such as food and drinks, fashion and giftware. But, in addition, Ireland has developed highly successful exporting sectors with the emphasis on knowledge-based technologies. Examples include software telecommunications, world class sub-supply in electronics and engineering, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, environmental technologies, automotive and aerospace.

The development of Ireland's software industry is an example of this. Ireland is now the second biggest producer and exporter of software in the world after the United States.

More than 1,000 multinationals have established operations in Ireland. They have provided the incentive for a surge in Irish enterprise and native entrepreneurship. Irish companies were set up to meet the needs of these Irish-based multinationals. Working with some of the top industrial customers in the world, the Irish companies have become world-class suppliers and global market players.

1999 09 24                             1:00 p.m.