REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT ENTERPRISE IRELAND BUSINESS AND NETWORKING BREAKFAST
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT ENTERPRISE IRELAND BUSINESS AND NETWORKING BREAKFAST, MARRIOT GRAND HOTEL, MOSCOW
Good Morning
Ladies and gentlemen, Martin and I are delighted to be with you this morning at this Business Breakfast and Networking Session organised by Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Government agency that develops and promotes the indigenous Irish business sector, and Moscow’s Irish Business Club. I would especially like to welcome the leadership of the Association of European Business who have also joined us this morning.
This morning's business breakfast is another welcome and important opportunity to reiterate Ireland's keen interest in furthering trade with Russia and in developing the warm personal relationships and close partnerships which are the foundation of successful business links. In this regard we should recognise the importance of Ireland’s business community in Russia and the role that they play in promoting Ireland, in championing Ireland, in this large and increasingly important market.
My global travels as President have confirmed to me time and again the significant impact made by organisations such as the Irish Business Club. They are a ready-made, enthusiastic and knowledgeable network at the service of Irish companies seeking to enter overseas markets and they have a fine record of philanthropic works in their host countries. I would like to pay a well-deserved tribute to the Irish Business Club, its President Avril Conroy and her hard working Committee. The Irish Community in Moscow is small but your organisation creates a source of communal power and energy that makes it seem considerably bigger.
The good news is that, thanks to your help, trade between Ireland and the Russian Federation is flourishing and has rebounded strongly from the international financial crisis in 2009. Currently the volume of bilateral trade is approximately €1.9bn, but there is significant potential to improve on this level. Since 1991, Ireland has been the 8th largest source of Foreign Direct Investment into Russia. In return, as an open economy, Ireland has welcomed Russian businesses seeking to develop their global operations in our country. While the number of Irish companies with offices in Russia is still comparatively small, the number of distribution and partnership arrangements between Irish and Russian companies continues to grow and grow. It is precisely these strong commercial relations that have allowed Irish companies to react quickly in 2010 to the upswing in the Russian economy.
Ireland has many attractions for Russian investors and traders – our membership of the European Union offers access to a market of half a billion consumers. Our status as the only English-speaking member of the Euro puts us in a unique position. We have a solid reputation for excellence in many spheres and a strong focus on international business and innovation driven by cutting-edge research and technology. Our young people are highly educated, flexible, hard-working and ambitious for themselves and for their country. Our business culture is designed to attract and hold inward investors. We aim to make people welcome and the best testimony to this is the number of Russians living among us in Ireland and the skills and expertise they have brought with them. The robustness of our international business is especially evident in Ireland’s ICT sector, which generates a significant proportion of our exports.
Enterprise Ireland already works closely with Irish companies to help them develop and grow their business in Russia. I would like to encourage the business people present here this morning to look to Enterprise Ireland as a resource to access the very best of what Ireland has to offer. We have a strong reputation for technology-led and export-focused companies and there are a number of broad sectors where there are clear opportunities for Irish companies to develop and expand their sales in Russia. The most promising sectors include the information and telecommunications technologies, education and training, environmental and engineering, life sciences and medical devices, aviation, industrial machinery, and food and drinks products. Representatives from many of these sectors are here with us this morning.
To the Irish companies and business people already based in Moscow, I warmly acknowledge the vital role you play in promoting Ireland in Russia. At a time when Ireland’s economy is transiting from recession to recovery, you have the opportunity to be our reputational ambassadors in your daily dealings with Russian friends and colleagues. I would also encourage you to work with Enterprise Ireland if you come across business opportunities that might benefit from the input of an Irish product or service.
The progress that has been made so far by Irish companies, supported by Enterprise Ireland, in entering the Russian market allows us to believe the very best is yet to come. The future successes that Ireland and Russia will create together are largely dependent on the people in this audience because for all our technological progress business ideas still are generated in the human mind and good, effective partnerships still need a handshake and a trusting relationship – the kind of things a shared breakfast can do so much to enhance. Thank you for playing your part in this process. I hope it will bring you prosperity and a new level of confidence in the growing relationship between Irish and Russian businesses and indeed between the Irish and Russian people in the years to come.
Thank you