Last week, as most of us returned to work after the Christmas break, 85 Irish companies travelled to the Netherlands and Germany with the Taoiseach on a three-day trade and investment mission. The trade mission, which saw companies visit The Hague, Amsterdam, Dusseldorf and Munich, focused on increasing export markets, advancing trade opportunities and attracting investment.
Interested in finding out how they got on? Read on for information on the immediate results from the trade mission, and what this means for Irish business.
Jan Warner, Director General, European Space Agency pictures with the Taoiseach and Julie Sinnamon, CEO, Enterprise Ireland
€57m in contracts
Contracts worth approximately €57 million were among the initial, immediate results of the Enterprise Ireland trade mission.
Among the deals announced during the mission was an agreement signed by Enterprise Ireland and the European Space Agency to establish a Space Business Incubator Centre in Ireland. The incubator will see 25 start-up companies in space related technologies get support by 2020.
Site visit
During the trade mission, Taoiseach Enda Kenny visited an €80m construction project involving three Irish companies at Leiden, The Netherlands. The project will see the companies design and build a major development for international pharmaceutical company Johnson and Johnson at the existing Janssen Biologics facility. John Sisk & sons are construction managers for the project which was designed by PM Group which is due to be completed later this year. Engineering services were provided by Cork-based Dornan Engineering.
Taoiseach led trade missions
This is not the first trade mission the Taoiseach has led. In 2012, during a mission led by the Taoiseach more than €35million worth of contracts and commitments were signed following a three-day mission in Shanghai and Beijing. In 2013, along with the Minister for Agriculture, he led a delegation of Irish agri-food companies on a trade mission to Japan which led to the Japanese ban on importing Irish beef being lifted. Last year, 95 jobs and 21 contracts worth €65 million were signed during a trade mission of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Quatar.
Useful stats on trade between Ireland & Germany and the Netherlands
Almost 900 Irish companies export to the region, with 458 Enterprise Ireland companies exporting to The Netherlands and 440 to Germany. Enterprise Ireland is targeting €2.25 billion worth of exports to the Dutch and German markets by 2020. Germany is also the fourth largest exporting market for Irish companies.