ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT AN ENTERPRISE IRELAND BUSINESS BREAKFAST, SHILLA HOTEL, SEOUL
ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT AN ENTERPRISE IRELAND BUSINESS BREAKFAST, SHILLA HOTEL, SEOUL, THURSDAY, 24 MARCH, 2005
Ambassador Murphy, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to meet with you this morning to celebrate and to encourage the growing trade links between Ireland and Korea. I am very grateful to each of you, all with busy lives and busy diaries, who have set aside the time to be part of this forum for dialogue and networking between the business communities of Ireland and Korea. Let me wish you all a very traditional Irish “Céad Míle Failte” – a hundred thousand welcomes – to this breakfast meeting.
Ireland, like Korea, is a trading nation. Commerce is the life blood of our economies and the source of our prosperity. Most of our industrial output is exported and our dependence on trade, in terms of GDP per head, is one of the highest in the world today. In recent years, Ireland has experienced average annual rates of export growth of over 13%, the highest in the OECD. Despite intensified competition in the global economy, analysts are predicting further substantial export growth for Ireland in the coming years.
We have other things in common as well. Both Ireland and Korea are rapidly moving toward a knowledge-based economy built on innovation and technology. We both have entrepreneurial business climates that are driven by cutting-edge information technology and we place a premium on research, on fluent relations between business and academia, on creativity and good access to venture capital.
Both countries have seen tremendous changes in our respective economies in recent years. We have gained formidable reputations globally because of our very strong economic achievements. It is worth remembering that the ‘Celtic Tiger' appellation that has been given to the Irish economy was essentially a tribute to the fact that our rapid economic growth resembled that of the so-called tiger economies of Asia, with Korea prominent among them. One of the reasons why Ireland has been successful in establishing strong trade links with Korea is because we share, in many ways, a common economic experience in recent years and have a similar passionate drive in developing overseas markets for our products and services.
From an Irish perspective, we see Korea as a dynamic country of well-educated, adaptable and innovative people, which has been particularly successful in the new technologies. Korea is becoming one of the major focal points of trade in the region and Irish exports are growing, especially in the high tech sectors. Korea is now world famous as the most ‘wired’ country in the world.
Korea is also the global leader in online digital media and games and is to be congratulated on showing the world how the Internet can change the way people live and work.
I am glad to learn that the Korea Games Development Institute and Enterprise Ireland have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on co-operation in the digital media sectors and I look forward to seeing the links in the IT sectors of our economies growing stronger in the coming years.
Ireland’s strength as a centre of software excellence is well established and we are, in fact, one of the top three biggest producers and exporters of software in the world. This is complemented by our expertise in the communications and semi-conductor sectors.
Korea’s success in the semi-conductor and mobile phone sectors is also of real interest to Ireland and to our companies and we feel that trade and business partnerships between our respective companies will be a win-win situation in future years.
We also excel in other sectors, such as healthcare, food, high value consumer goods, aeronautical engineering, financial services and education – all offering opportunities for partnership with Korea.
The figures for trade between Ireland and Korea are impressive. In 2004, total trade between our two nations exceeded €1.5 billion for the first time, showing an increase over the previous year of 27%. Irish owned companies are playing an increasing role in this activity. I was very happy to hear upon my arrival that one of our largest food companies has established an office in Korea and is finding success in exporting Irish food ingredients. I hope that in future years we will see other Irish companies enter the Korean market and I can tell you with confidence that Korean companies will find a warm welcome if they wish to establish in Ireland.
One key component of our programme to bring our two countries closer together is in the provision of international education services to Korean students and in linking our universities and researchers together in co-operative projects. I am very keen to see more Korean students and researchers participate in our education system. Young Korean people who live and study in Ireland will form relationships on which to build future business, trade and respectful cultural curiosity between our two countries. I know that a number of you here today are involved in this sector and I wish you every success in your endeavours.
Enterprise Ireland, which has organised this business breakfast, is the trade and technology board of the Irish Government. Its role is to ensure that the business partners, customers and associates of Irish companies are fully informed of the benefits of trading with Ireland. The agency offers a range of services to help professional buying teams to identify and evaluate the most appropriate sources of supply from Ireland. Enterprise Ireland works both with Irish companies and with local Korean companies to create new trade opportunities, giving confidence, support and advice to those trading or thinking of trading with Ireland.
To further develop the trade links between our countries, Enterprise Ireland established an office in Seoul in November of last year and its staff are very eager to work with Irish and Korean companies in putting together sourcing relationships, strategic alliances, joint ventures, product/process licensing and collaborative R&D. So there are plenty of opportunities for all those who make full use of the services of Enterprise Ireland. I hope to see a growing number of major players in the developing business links between Ireland and Korea. Those links are the best guarantee of prosperity to the people of Ireland and Korea and that I know is an ambition our peoples share: to live in the freedom and dignity that comes from using well the talent and genius of all our citizens, so that they themselves prosper, peace flourishes and global solidarity strengthens.
I wish you all every success in your existing and future business relationships.
KAM SA HAM NI TA (Thank you).