Speech by Minister Michael Ahern at the Ireland-Sweden trade networking dinner, Stockholm

Speech by Mr Michael Ahern TD, Minister for Trade and Commerce At the Ireland-Sweden trade networking dinner organised by Enterprise Ireland, Stockholm, Thursday 8 June 2006

Ambassador, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to lead this trade-networking mission to Sweden and to have the opportunity to meet this evening with the mission participants and their valued Swedish customers and partners. I would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation for your welcome. I would especially like to express my thanks and appreciation to His Excellency Barrie Robinson, Irish Ambassador to Sweden, who, together with his team, has been enormously helpful in the development of this mission.

I hope that you will all enjoy the evening and use it as a chance to get to know each other better, in order to strengthen relationships for the future.

Ireland and Sweden have a long history of trading together and this evening’s dinner gives us an opportunity to celebrate the growing business and technology links between our two countries. It also provides an opportunity to show the diversity of companies coming from Ireland and the high calibre of their products and services.

Ireland, like Sweden, is rapidly moving toward a knowledge-based economy built on innovation and technology. Throughout the recent period of Ireland’s development as a knowledge economy the building up of our innovation and research capacity and capability has contributed to and, indeed, underpinned the success story.

Our growth is substantially shaped by the emergence of strong, technology-led, and export-focused Irish owned companies, which have become world leaders in their respective industries.

These Irish companies are engaged in a continuous dynamic process of transformation centred on innovation and internationalisation. Indeed, the emergence of a whole new enterprise culture in Ireland was perhaps the most dramatic aspect of Ireland’s recent economic success story.

Sweden is a major target for increasing Irish exports. Total Irish exports to Sweden increased by nearly 8% last year to over €1 billion. This is a substantial amount of business, and there is plenty of scope for us to do much more business together, over the coming years.

Irish-owned companies have been to the fore in building a strong presence in Sweden across all sectors, and have recorded double-digit growth every year for the past five consecutive years. During that period, they have more than doubled their sales - from 65 million Euros to over 140 million Euros – which is a tremendous achievement.

These companies have been particularly successful in providing Swedish buyers with competitive and innovative products and services in high tech sectors, such as, medical devices and technologies, pharmaceutical engineering, telecommunications, enterprise and financial software, digital media and for the aerospace and electronics industries.

Conversely, we have also witnessed the emergence of some significant Swedish investment in Ireland, with around 20 Swedish Companies now operating in Ireland employing around 2500 people. These include Ericssons who, in 2004, added a new R&D component to its investment in Athlone. We also face the exciting prospect of the possibility of IKEA opening in Ireland in the near future.

Ireland and Sweden are both forward thinking economies, with a fundamental commitment to the goals and ideals of the European Union and, beyond that, to developing business opportunities throughout the world.

As a demonstration of the growing importance of Ireland as a trading partner to Sweden, the Swedish Export Board has recently opened an office in Dublin. It is also interesting to note that, as recently as December 2005, the “Invest in Sweden Agency” was actively seeking Irish companies to directly invest in Sweden, particularly in the forestry/timber area.

One of the aims of this networking mission is to raise the profile of Ireland as a world-class supplier of high technology products and services. Specifically, we want to promote the product and service capability of Irish companies, currently doing business here, and to encourage mutually beneficial collaborative business ventures.

We operate in markets and sectors that are characterised by rapid and dynamic change. International partnership is a key component of this and Irish companies are increasingly involved in sourcing relationships, strategic alliances, joint ventures, product/process licensing and collaborative R&D with international partners. I have no doubt that there are significant opportunities for increasing this kind of partnership between Ireland and Sweden.

Enterprise Ireland, which has organised this networking mission, is the trade and technology board of the Irish government. Its role is to ensure that the business partners, customers and associates of Irish companies are fully informed of the benefits of trading with Ireland. Through its Stockholm office, Enterprise Ireland works closely with Irish companies and their representatives in Sweden in driving the growth agenda and in offering continuing support and assistance to both Irish suppliers and Swedish buyers.

I invite Swedish buyers, distributors, industry specifiers, and technology partners to make full use of the services of Enterprise Ireland and to discover a host of suppliers and strategic partners. We are committed to the Swedish market and hope to be of real service to you.

So, in conclusion, I would like to wish everyone here tonight success in your future business endeavours. I hope you will all have a very enjoyable and a productive evening.

Thank You. ENDS/ TC224