REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT A TRADE DINNER HOSTED BY ENTERPRISE IRELAND, MONDAY, 22ND SEPTEMBER
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT A TRADE DINNER HOSTED BY ENTERPRISE IRELAND, MONDAY, 22ND SEPTEMBER 2008
Minister, Ambassador, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dia dhíbh a chairde. Tá me iontach sásta bheith anseo libh tráthnóna ar an ócáid speisialta, ócáid stairiúil seo.
It is such a joy to be here with you all this evening for this is my first official function on the very first State Visit from Ireland to Romania. The long years when our relationships were relatively undeveloped have given way to a shared partnership in the European Union and a shared future that we are already building together.
This visit comes too at a time when Romania maintains robust economic growth levels and investment continues to stream into the country. That economic development is good news for the Romanian people, and for those doing business here in this vibrant and talented country which like Ireland is at last casting off the shadows of a hard past. Now you, like Ireland, want to safeguard and develop your hard-earned prosperity. And so our focus this evening is on the building of successful business links between Ireland and Romania, for it is those links which create the jobs that give people choices in their lives and hope for their future.
Today’s Ireland is a far cry from the poor country which joined the European Union over thirty years ago. Today’s Ireland is a source of world-class products, services and expertise doing business around the world and indeed growing strong trading links with Romania. Trade between Ireland and Romania has grown strongly in the last five years, and was worth over €250 million in 2007. The transition Romania is undergoing is reflected in the changing profile of business between us. Where five or ten years ago Irish companies doing business here might have seen Romania principally as a place to outsource production, the business environment has developed, and Irish small and medium-sized companies are now finding demand for niche products and services here.
Many of the Irish firms here this evening are involved in the growth in Romania’s construction and building environment which has generated demand for complementary niche skills and services like planning, architecture and engineering, in which the Irish excel. We have seen too, Irish developers and financiers investing in commercial and residential property here in recent years, and some of you are also here this evening.
Enterprise Ireland, the trade and technology agency of the Irish government and our hosts this evening, have it as their mission to help Irish companies build business relationships and sales growth worldwide. Here in Romania it means they form a vital two way resource to Irish and Romanian businesses, helping them to find the right partner, develop the best synergy, and understand each other’s business cultures and contexts. They will keep you well informed about the benefits of trade between Ireland and Romania and about the opportunities that exist to do good business together. The twenty-two Irish companies represented here are among those who recognise the potential in the Romanian market.
I would like to mention in particular the achievements of companies like ESBI in winning complex engineering work with OMV-Petrom, and Project Management Group which has a strong track record in Romania and wider south-eastern Europe in delivering consultancy and technical assistance projects. Software companies have also been successful, like Norkom Technologies, whose world-class software has been deployed in several Romanian banks; ChangingWorlds and Arantech who count Vodafone Romania among their clients, and FTI Treasury, whose software helps the Ministry of Public Finance manage its debt. Their successes should act as an encouragement to others to seek out and grow business opportunities available in today’s vibrant, growing Romania.
We know that there is substantial potential for accelerated trade and investment growth in the years ahead, with opportunities right across the business spectrum, and particularly in sectors where Irish companies are already active, such as information technologies, financial services, construction, environmental technologies and related services.
You, our Romanian guests, are key influencers and decision makers. You will help to shape future business relationships and opportunities between your own organisations and many of Ireland’s leading companies. I want to thank you for your support and interest, and assure you of Ireland’s continuing commitment to strong economic ties with Romania to work to our mutual benefit in growing shared prosperity and also shared friendships and mutual understanding.
Enjoy the remainder of the evening in each other’s company. I hope that my visit to Romania will help to forge deep and robust bonds of friendship between our two countries. We are the most blessed of generations of our two countries for we have the peace and prosperity and the mutually respectful partnerships that our parents and grandparents thought impossible but prayed and worked for nonetheless. We have possibilities and potential in abundance. Now our task is to ensure we use them and use them well to build a Romania and an Ireland to be proud of.
Thank you.