Successful Trade Mission to Australia to Significantly Increase Business Opportunities - Tánaiste

Mary Harney, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment today (Wednesday 5th September 2001) concluded a successful trade mission to Australia by expressing her confidence that significant business opportunities would result from the efforts of the thirty-five companies who have spent the past week building contacts with their Australian counterparts.

The Tánaiste said "This has been the largest Enterprise Ireland trade mission ever to Australia and I am confident that this reflects the Government's efforts to build a new awareness of Ireland in the region. I have been particularly impressed by the goodwill that exists in Australia towards Ireland and the Irish and I believe that Irish companies are now in a good position to build substantially on recent trade figures and contribute towards a significant increase in trade with the Australian continent."

During her visit to Australia, the Tánaiste also met with many political figures at both federal and state level as well as opening an IDA sponsored seminar on the Irish Financial Services Centre which was attended by some 100 key executives from the Australian financial sector. "In the few days since that seminar, a number of Australian companies have already arranged to visit Ireland in the autumn and I am hopeful that substantial business opportunities will result."

The Tánaiste met this morning with the Australian Minister for Communications, IT and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston following which both Governments issued an agreed statement on the development and deepening of relations between the two countries through cooperation in the area of electronic commerce.

Bi-lateral trade between Australia and Ireland has increased to more than Australian $1.2 billion in 2000, a record for trade between our two countries. There is also a steady increase in the level of bi-lateral investment with 21 Irish companies having Australia as a base for Asia-Pacific operations compared to only 13 in 1999.

eFunds International and Trintech have signed an agreement that makes eFunds the regional reseller for the Trintech PayWare Resolve line of products. The Asia Pacific operations of eFunds, will be responsible for the Australian, New Zealand and Indian markets and local employees will be trained to customise, implement and support the PayWare Resolve products. St.George Bank Limited has just licensed both the Issuer and Acquirer portions of PayWare Resolve, making St.George Bank the first company in Australia to be using these products.

Bakers Delight have chosen the SoftCo Enterprise product suite for their Accounts Payable and Document Management functions. The solution is being provided by SoftCo partner ALC IT Solutions. The system provides scanning, workflow and management of paper and electronic documents in the Accounts Payable and Property Management areas of the business.

IONA ®, the leading e-business platform provider for Total Business Integration"!( NASDAQ:IONA ), today announced the opening of offices in Canberra and Brisbane, bringing the Australian coverage to five including Sydney, Perth and Melbourne. Already operational, the Brisbane and Canberra offices will focus on the implementation of the IONA Suite" in the telecommunication and government markets. This expansion now completes IONA's national coverage. Recently, IONA announced its strategy of Total Business Integration with the IONA Suite, a comprehensive e-business platform for enterprises. The IONA Suite allows organisations to integrate existing back-office systems and new application and business processes outside the enterprise, known as Business-to-Business Integration (B2Bi).

Network 365 and eServ Ltd (Internationally known as eServGlobal), a global technology company specialising in the provision of infrastructure solutions for advanced telecommunications services will form a strategic alliance aimed at delivering pioneering solutions for the wireless marketplace in the Asia-Pacific region. Under the terms of the agreement, Network365 will provide customers with the complete range of its mZone solutions, including mZone Mobile Commerce Server, the world's first purpose-built solution for shopping, ticketing, brokering and information services. eServ in turn will provide the specialised expertise in telecoms systems architecture and integration necessary to deliver end-to-end mCommerce solutions in carrier networks.

IdentiGEN is to make its services available through Silliker-Microtech Australia, an established leader in the area of food safety, testing and consulting. As part of a global license Silliker Laboratories Inc. is to offer IdentiGEN's TraceBack TM technology to its customers in key markets internationally, these markets include Australia, Europe, Japan and North America. This deal represents a major step forward for IdentiGEN, the first company in the world to use DNA identification technology to routinely trace meat products back to their source.

Electric Paper, the international e-learning company, has secured a significant contract with the New South Wales Adult & Community Education Council (ACE) for the provision of IT literacy courseware to approximately 1,000 individuals across New South Wales. The contract secured in partnership with Watsonia Publishing will provide an IT literacy training programme to approximately 40 ACE accredited organisations who will deliver the training programme at 54 sites throughout New South Wales. Additional revenue will be generated from the provision of Electric Papers automated testing to ACE accredited Test Centres over the next 12 months.

Digital Earth Systems Limited of Dublin and Network Technology Limited of New Zealand today announced a Technology Partnership to deliver E-911 location technology and commercial Location-Based Services (LBS). E-911 is a US Government mandated program to pinpoint the location of cell phone callers to the 911 emergency number. The technology partnership, branded as GeoModeTM, will enable wireless carriers to implement a 100% software solution for cell phone positioning without any modifications or new hardware. Such a solution can be deployed immediately on GSM networks with versions available for most other data formats. Besides saving lives, this technology has significant commercial potential. There are 300 GSM networks installed in nearly 142 countries which gives the unit the unique ability to operate almost world wide.

Recognising that electronic commerce and the use of information and communications technology will be a significant engine of economic growth in the 21st century with the potential to invigorate economies by enhancing productivity, streamlining distribution and re-engineering corporate structures;

Stressing the importance of promoting electronic commerce and of reaching coherent and effective global solutions in the construction of a seamless environment essential for the stimulation of the new economy;

Acknowledging the key role that the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector plays in the developing of electronic commerce;

Determining to effectively manage the relationship between regional and global standardisation activities regarding electronic commerce; and

Guided by the European Union-Australia Joint Statement on Cooperation in the Global Information Economy.

Express their intention to promote the following co-operation:

With the aim of achieving this purpose, Australia and Ireland stress the importance of:

1. Developments in the telecommunications infrastructure for the promotion of electronic commerce;
2. Appropriate Government measures (including regulation, self-regulation and codes of practice), which are clear, transparent, and predictable and which will assist the growth of electronic commerce;
3. Further bilateral discussions at Government, expert, business and non-Governmental level, where appropriate, regarding the development of global electronic commerce;
4. The key role of industry in developing electronic commerce through the development of new services and rules for the functioning of this market place.
5. Enhancing co-operation within relevant international for a to achieve global consensus on an international framework for electronic commerce.
6. Ensuring effective access and sustained long-term trends towards low cost and high quality telecommunications infrastructure and services for electronic commerce by means of effective competition in telecommunications networks and services;
7. Providing a clear and consistent regulatory framework, thus promoting a pro-enterprise environment in which electronic commerce can flourish while contributing towards the protection of public interest objectives such as privacy, data protection, intellectual property rights, consumer protection and security, including the promotion of the use of electronic signatures and electronic certification in order to prevent fraud;
8. Minimising legal and regulatory barriers to electronic trade and preventing the emergence of new barriers while recognising the right of governments to pursue policy objectives;
9. Supporting the development of a global framework that recognises, facilitates and enforces electronic transactions worldwide;
10. Enhancing the awareness and confidence of citizens and business in electronic commerce and supporting the development of relevant skills and network literacy.