REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT EI BUSINESS BREAKFAST IN VILNIUS THURSDAY, 24TH MAY, 2007.
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT EI BUSINESS BREAKFAST IN VILNIUS THURSDAY, 24TH MAY, 2007.
I have been looking forward greatly to this, my first visit to Lithuania, and the opportunity to experience directly the vibrancy and the confidence being generated by your legendary economic and business success. Having watched you emerge from the darkness of the past and willed you on to membership of the European Union, Ireland takes great delight in your journey to prosperity. We remember our own tough road to independence, our own difficult pathway to membership of the Union and our ultimately successful struggle to end our long days of poverty and underachievement. Because we know well that journey’s many ups and downs, we hold Lithuania in the highest regard and wish her people the same things that we wish for ourselves. We are a fortunate generation – for we have bridged the gap left by history and geography and now as firm partners in the European Union we naturally look with interest and passion at the ways in which we can develop our friendship and our partnership. At this gathering we focus in a friendly and collegial setting on the opportunities for strengthening our links, particularly in business and trade.
We have much in common: as small countries, of similar size and population, on the periphery of Europe with a natural empathy for one another and an innate understanding of each other’s ambition to become the very best we can. Growing the trade between us is an obvious building block. Current levels of trade between us were a modest €41 million last year with the balance substantially in Lithuania’s favour. But that figure represented an annual increase of 11%, which encourages us to believe that there is significant scope for growth.
Through today’s event, which is being hosted by Enterprise Ireland, the trade and technology board of the Irish government, we hope to raise the profile of the Irish information and communications technology sector in Lithuania and assist Irish SMEs in identifying potential ICT partners in your country. Ireland is an attractive trading partner. We offer competitive, high quality and technologically advanced products and services, and international partnership is a key component of our entrepreneurial culture. Irish companies are increasingly involved in sourcing relationships, strategic alliances, joint ventures, product/process licensing and collaborative R&D with international partners. As a small country it makes eminent sense for us to do so.
The job of Enterprise Ireland is to ensure that the business partners, customers and associates of Irish companies are fully informed of the benefits of trading with Ireland. They offer a range of services to help professional buying teams identify and evaluate the most appropriate sources of supply from Ireland. I know that the staff of Enterprise Ireland are looking forward to working both with Irish companies and with companies in Lithuania to create and grow new and mutually beneficial trade opportunities. I invite you to make the fullest use of their services.
Ireland, because of its comparatively small size, has bred strong export-focused companies which have a wealth of experience, a technologically competitive supply base and a drive and determination to develop new markets. Irish companies, particularly in the software and telecoms sector, have become global players, selling to markets throughout the world. Their success is based on a number of key characteristics – a product and related services orientation, backed by R&D investment; a commitment to export-led growth; a niche focus that enables small companies to achieve significant market positions in global niche areas; and a strong partnership approach to developing new business.
Ireland is today the single biggest exporter of software solutions in Europe and one of the top three software exporters in the world. The Irish-owned software sector has seen an increasing number of entrepreneurs starting high value added and high export growth companies. Over the last number of years, Enterprise Ireland has supported some 500 high potential start-up companies, which today have a cumulative turnover of close on €1.5 billion each year. These companies represent a new breed of globally competitive industry based on knowledge and innovation. They are a key part of our future.
Telecommunications is another of Ireland’s major high tech success stories in overseas markets and provides major scope for increasing partnership with Lithuania. Telecommunications is one of the fastest growing industries in Ireland, with exports trebling annually in the past three years. The strengths of the Irish telecommunications sector include excellent core technology, a highly skilled workforce, strong managerial skills, an impressive multinational base in Ireland and a good digital infrastructure into international markets. Again it is not hard to recognise that there is significant potential here for us to work together.
Operating, as we do today, in a global economy provides challenges and opportunities for small countries like Ireland and Lithuania. Yes, we are out there in a very tough competitive marketplace competing against much bigger forces but we have some historic experiences of seeing off big competitors and we are a tough breed. We have advantages such as flexibility, nimbleness and the ability to ensure more easily that all aspects of our operations are pointing in the same direction. Being small we have short lines of communication and we can quickly create the friendships and trust on which commerce can build. We are both passionate about making the most of the opportunities that membership of the EU offers and so it makes sense that we work as closely together as we can in making full use of these advantages. We are no longer the strangers we once were and indeed some 20,000 Lithuanians today have made Ireland their home, some for the long term, most for the short term. They are bringing the story, the culture, the language, the values of Lithuania directly into Irish society. Their contribution to our communities is greatly appreciated and respected. They are building the most effective human bridges between us and I hope that in this room are the men and women who will build the bridges of commerce that will consolidate the prosperity of the peoples of Lithuania and Ireland.
No generation in our countries has had such an exciting future laid out before them. Let’s make the most of that now in business terms. I wish you all every success.