REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY MCALEESE AT A BUSINESS BREAKFAST AT THE CONRAD HOTEL
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY MCALEESE AT A BUSINESS BREAKFAST AT THE CONRAD HOTEL BRUSSELS TUESDAY, 20 MARCH 2007
Good morning everyone. I am delighted to be here this morning on this my fourth official visit to Belgium and to have this chance to meet so many leading Irish companies, their Belgian and Dutch partners and leading members of the European business community. This morning’s event, which has been organised by Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Embassy, is about that human thing of meeting, chatting, sharing food, befriending, informing all those things which build up networks that facilitate friendships and business partnerships. It also is an occasion to celebrate the increasing trade and investment links between our two countries which your work is sustaining and developing apace.
I am very grateful for your interest in Ireland. Your presence here this morning in such strong numbers is a clear demonstration of the friendship, partnership and dynamism that underpins our business dealings with one another.
I offer warm thanks to Ambassador Nason and his team at the Embassy, and to Charlotte Field and her team at Enterprise Ireland, who are our hosts this morning.
Thanks to them, this event allows us to gather together and to acknowledge an important fact. We live in changing times of great opportunity for Ireland and for Belgium. For small countries and strong economies, globalisation is opening new doors and opportunities to collaborate.
Yes, of course we compete. But the overall reality is that the expansion of global trade and investment is bringing Ireland and Belgium together more and more. As Europe’s dynamic economies, we are partners in the single market and further afield. As EU Member States, we work together to give the EU the capacity to grow into something greater than the sum of its parts. And as business leaders, you know too the benefits that flow from working together to build common projects and to shape processes and “deals” which can benefit all sides.
Ireland and Belgium share a recent history of dynamic economic growth based on an ability to succeed in the global marketplace. The vibrant economic and export growth of both our countries over the past ten years has positioned us as trading nations and global players. Ireland and Belgium are the most export-oriented countries in the EU and are among the leading non-oil exporting countries in the world on a per capita basis.
Total two way trade between Ireland and Belgium is currently worth €14.5 billion a year. I am very pleased to note that Irish-owned Small and Medium Enterprises are developing particularly strong trade links with Belgium and that this trade is growing steadily year on year. These client companies of Enterprise Ireland, such as are represented here today, increased their sales in Belgium/Luxembourg by 32% last year, one of the biggest growth rates by Irish companies in any major export market.
This reflects a buoyant market for Irish companies and suggests that there is substantial potential for further accelerated trade growth in the years ahead, with trade opportunities right across the business spectrum. This is particularly so in sectors where Irish companies are already active, where we have a base of internationally competitive client companies and a match with the local market industrial base. Key sectors of opportunity include life-sciences, industrial products, such as packaging, environment products and construction, software and services, particularly financial services, telecommunications and eGovernment.
When I look around this room, I really get a sense that common ground abounds, in more ways than one. I see Belgian and Dutch firms whose commitment to growth with Irish partners knows little boundary. I see research institutes and universities working hand in hand with the European Commission and other Member States to promote world leading research and technology partnerships. And I see leaders of our state and semi state agencies who along with Ambassadors, represent Ireland across the globe and find “common ground” wherever they go.
I was fascinated to learn that the first steam engine to be constructed on the continent – at Jenappes-sur-Meuse, a suburb of Liege, in 1721, was by an Irish engineer, John O’Kelly of Galway! It proves that partnership and technology transfer have been around for a long time! When we consider technology from a current perspective, it is obvious that the EU’s 7th Framework Programme for co-operative research offers great scope for research linkages to be developed across the length and breadth of today’s European Union. Ireland’s performance in the Framework 7 programme proves that we excel at building partnerships overseas.
Looking ahead to new opportunities for collaboration on the island of Ireland, we certainly see the EU’s 7th Framework Programme as an area where an all-island approach makes sense. It has great potential to boost cross-border research in the North and South and to build a network of competent players who can in turn participate in consortia at European level.
A good example of this partnership is in the aerospace sector, where we have Universities across the island working in partnership with the sector - including Bombardier in Northern Ireland to build on our strengths and increase our impact.
This is just one example of how EU policy in Ireland is stimulating new thinking and policy approaches to economic development amongst Government and Business Leaders. Increasingly, we are learning the essential lesson of the EU vision that peace and prosperity go hand in hand and reinforce one another. Without the determination of successive governments’ commitment to education, I wouldn’t be talking to you today about key industries in Ireland; such as biotechnology, ICT and nanotechnology. But that is the picture in Ireland today – youthful, innovative and technology driven.
Yesterday I had the great pleasure to celebrate the enterprise of Franciscan monks who travelled to Belgium over four hundred years ago at a time of great difficulty in Irish history. Fittingly, the Irish College which they established is now the home of the Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe. As such, it continues its founding mission as a centre of learning, and now stands as a shining beacon of Ireland’s commitment to the European ideals.
Enterprise Ireland, our co-host today, is the Irish trade and technology board. In many ways, like the monks of old, it too has been a pioneer for new ideas and for a change in business culture in Ireland. Here in this region, I salute their work to help Irish companies increase their sales and develop local partnerships. Enterprise Ireland’s services to Belgian companies start, as with a lot of things, with listening – listening, understanding and responding to the needs of the marketplace, your needs. Then working with you to develop creative solutions that help you to achieve your corporate goals together with like-minded, creative and innovative Irish companies. And finding the right Irish company that you can work closely with for the long term.
What remains for me to say is to thank you again for your interest and commitment to doing business with Ireland, for your enthusiasm and drive to broaden your own business horizons, and for taking time to be with us here today. At five o’clock on a Friday afternoon it may not feel like it but you are, between you, building the vision of Europe’s founders, cementing peace and prosperity through partnership. It is a noble endeavour and in this the Golden Jubilee of the foundation of the union every so often we need to remind ourselves that we are part of the greatest conspiracy for good in the history of humankind.
Go raibh maith agaibh. Thank you