Minister for Trade Promotion Robert Troy embarks on a four-day trade mission to Germany, France and the Netherlands, organised by Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, from today.
The Fianna Fáil TD will visit Frankfurt, Paris, the Hague and Amsterdam during the trip, which will focus strongly on technology and is geared around presenting FDI opportunities, and promoting Irish innovation and collaboration between firms in Ireland, and the three countries.
A total of 33 Enterprise Ireland companies will participate in the mission, representing Dublin, Cork, Galway, Kildare, Kilkenny, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly and Wicklow as the organisation progress with plans to accelerate export growth to the eurozone.
Irish exports to eurozone countries totalled €5.9bn in 2020 and the region now accounts for 23% of Enterprise Ireland client exports, with 103 such companies having established new presences in Germany, Frances and the Netherlands in the past 18 months.
"I am delighted to lead this trade mission to Europe to support the acceleration of Irish exports to the region and support FDI growth," Minister Troy said. "Continually strengthening the business ties between Ireland and our European neighbours is incredibly important.
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"Across the four days, the trade mission will support Irish SMEs to strengthen opportunities across the region, while encouraging investors to seek out Ireland as a location for further FDI.”
Tom Cusack, head of global markets at Enterprise Ireland, said there were "untapped opportunities" in the eurozone for Irish companies.
"This trade mission and our initiatives such as Enter the Eurozone programme are focused on supporting Irish exporters to enter and scale in Europe," he continued. "The new contracts, partnerships and new presences announced today are representative of the continued strong business opportunities that Europe represents for Irish companies.”
Mary Buckley, executive director at IDA Ireland, added: "This trade mission is a welcome opportunity to meet our corporate clients with Minister Troy and our sister agency Enterprise Ireland.
"Competition for foreign direct investment has never been as intense and trade missions like this help IDA Ireland to increase awareness of Ireland’s offering as an attractive place to invest. This mission to France, Germany and the Netherlands and is also a welcome opportunity to deepen relationships with the parent companies of our clients."
Highlights of the visit include a number of roundtable events in Frankfurt on the future of mobility and trade between Ireland and Germany to mark Enterprise Ireland's 60th year in Germany.
In France, Irish companies including Access Earth, Altada, Corlytics, Daon, Gladcloud, Greenstak, Openmind Networks, Taoglas and Transfermate will pitch to major French corporates, and participate at the Viva Technology trade fair in Paris.
In the Netherlands, Irish companies 8WestConsulting and DPS will meet with their Dutch partners, and a roundtable event on Ireland’s cyber security sector will be held the Hague Security Delta (HSD) and the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO).
The trade mission to Frankfurt coincides with the announcement of new contracts and Germany locations by a number of Irish companies, including Druid Software's partnership with Germany firm Siticom on a joint 5G mobile technology project at the Technical University of Deggendorf.
Micromobility company ZEUS Scooters GmbH now operates in 30 German cities; home fragrance brand Max Benjamin recently announced an exclusive partnership with P&P Accessories GmbH for Germany and Austria.
Elsewhere hotel solutions provider P3 Hotel Software recently expanded into Germany following investment by Business Venture Partners and Enterprise Ireland, and tech unicorn Fenergo announced the establishment of a new market presence in Frankfurt.
Minister Troy's visit follows a two-day trade mission to Spain last month.
Photo: Frankfrut am Main. (Pic: Getty Images)
