Remarks by Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Irish Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong

Irish Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong

Remarks by Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheal Martin, TD

I chose to begin my visit to China in Hong Kong because I wanted to meet with you and to acknowledge the excellent work being done by the Irish Chamber and also by the St. Patrick’s Society and the GAA;

I also want to let you know about my trip to China and the importance of  greater China, including Hong Kong, to our economic and trading strategies;

Later today, I will drive to Shenzhen to meet with the Shenzhen Municipal Government and meet with several potential investor companies there. Tomorrow I fly to Beijing where I will meet the Foreign Minister and also Vice Premier Li Keqiang, who is a rising star in Beijing, as you all know. Then I go to Shanghai where I will have meetings at the EXPO; and finally to Dalian in north east China for further trade promotion;

The development of Ireland’s political and economic relationship with China is a central element in our foreign policy.  That relationship is widening and deepening. At the trade level, our exports to China inclosing Hong Kong are substantially up over the last year. China, including Hong Kong, is now our largest export market in Asia and Australasia. There are now 109 Irish companies with a presence in the People’s Republic of China: 81 in the mainland and 28 in Hong Kong). The total was less than 45 in 2005;

We are continuing to prepare the ground to intensify this cooperation. Let me give you a concrete example: a few weeks ago we finalised with the Hong Kong authorities a Double Taxation Agreement and I brought it to Cabinet for approval. This will be an important asset as we seek to attract major mainland Chinese financial institutions to establish presences in Ireland;

Information technology and telecoms, education services; cleantech, environmental products and engineering; medical devices and financial services are all areas of great potential and I will be pushing these areas strongly in my present visit;

Ireland is going through a challenging economic situation at present, and as you all know the crisis in the eurozone has not helped matters, Indeed I am aware of fears in this city of the contagion effects of the Greek and eurozone crises;

One final word on the EU: history shows that the European Union is good at learning lessons from periodic crises that take place, and I think that you will see a stronger EU emerge from the current problems facing the eurozone and Greece. Already, the EU has strengthened its foreign policy structures as a result of the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty and awareness that the EU must be more cohesive on the international stage. I am confident that the right lessons will be learned from the current difficulties in the eurozone;

The Government’s response to the economic crisis has been proactive and resolute. We have tackled vigorously the imbalance in our public finances, taking difficult but necessary decisions. We have introduced comprehensive reform of the banking sector and we are aggressively addressing the issue of competitiveness - unit labour costs, energy costs and prices are falling.  Industrial production is up, consumer confidence is improving and we are confident that our repositioning through for example the renewed emphasis on innovation means that we will be in a position to benefit from the global recovery. We are also continuing to invest heavily in research and development and we have maintained our commitment to infrastructural development;

Ireland is no longer simplistically associated in international markets with Greece, Spain and Portugal. Indeed, the capital markets are looking on us with some favour. The European Commission, the European Central Bank, the IMF, OECD, and our major EU partners notably Germany , all have welcomed the comprehensive, sustained and painful work that we have undertaken to correct our fiscal situation in particular;

In addition Irish exports are strengthening and we believe that our improving global competitiveness will provide further benefits. The latest indications are that the Irish economy will return to some growth this year reaching 3% in 2011, one of the highest levels of growth in the EU forecast by the European Commission;  

Current projections are that our general government debt will peak, as a percentage of GDP, in 2012 and that it will be equivalent to the eurozone average this year and next year;

Having regained our forward momentum, we should begin to reap the benefits of our re-positioning to address the long term challenges posed by globalisation.    As we continue to build our “smart economy” on a foundation of high quality research and development, Ireland will I believe remain the most attractive place in Europe for doing business.   We are confident that we can continue to benefit from the synergies between the leading multinationals located in Ireland and our world-class indigenous companies whether in the financial services, life sciences, pharmaceutical or IT sectors; 
 

In order to achieve this we must use all the talents available, including the nearly 70 million people of Irish descent around the world.  The sheer numbers of people in places to where our ancestors emigrated in desperation have in the past led us to concentrate on the US, Britain and Australia when thinking about the Irish abroad. But, just as we have repositioned our economic strategies so we must develop how we interact with the global Irish family;

As a start to a more strategic engagement with our diaspora, last September, I convened the Global Irish Economic Forum at Farmleigh in Dublin, which brought together for the first time representatives of the international Irish community. As we continue the follow-up to that meeting the enormous ‘soft power’ of the global Irish has become ever more evident.  The Irish community abroad is an invaluable part of the modern Ireland which can play a key role in our economic growth and development, and you, the members of this Chamber in Hong Kong are a vital element of it;

Later this week I will host, in Shanghai, a regional meeting of the Global Irish Network, one of the initiatives arising out of the Farmleigh meeting.  I look forward to seeing Padraig and Rob, your present and past Presidents there.  We can all learn from each other and in networking we can find new opportunities, new ways to address challenges and new synergies;

I am pleased to hear that the Asia Pacific Ireland Business Forum will be held in Hong Kong on the last weekend of September of this year, on the same weekend as the GAA’s All Asia games, and the Ambassador has briefed me on your plans. I wish you every success in this project.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to thank you for your hospitality and your attention. 

ENDS+++

Press Office, 24 May 2010