Address by Mr. John McGuinness, T.D. Minister for International Trade to Press at Enterprise Ireland/IDA Ireland joint Press Conference, Conrad Hotel, Tokyo

14^th January 2009

I am delighted to join our Prime Minister here today as part of the biggest trade mission from Ireland ever to visit Japan.

We have some key announcements to make, which highlight Ireland’s eagerness to do business with Japan and Japan’s eagerness to collaborate with Ireland.

I would like to highlight a few of these:

Firecomms is a leading Irish company who develop innovative lasers and LEDs. Today they will announce a significant investment and business deal with Alps, a leading global manufacturer of electronic devices and, who, themselves also feature in a separate investment project, just mentioned by the Taoiseach.

Dimplex is the world’s biggest heating company. They already have significant business in Japan but today will announce their ambitious plans in this market for the next three years.

Botany Weaving is one of the World’s leading suppliers of aircraft seat fabrics. The company will announce a deal with world renowned All Nippon Airways (ANA).

Trend Micro is one of the three largest security software companies in the world. Their existing operation in Cork employs 140 staff and they have announced a further 100 jobs over the next three years.

Gala has been in the Digital Hub in Dublin for just over 1 year and already employs 50 staff in their facility, which supports and hosts their online games business in Europe. To assist in building out their markets and in signing an increasing number of new subscribers to their games network, the company will create 50 new jobs in Dublin by 2010.

These announcements underline the innovative nature of Irish companies, the government support for innovation and R&D and the enthusiasm we have to engage with Japan as well as the opportunity for Irish and Japanese companies to collaborate.

Japan is a powerful nation with a strong vision for a dynamic and prosperous future. Although Ireland is a much smaller country we hold the same vision. I sincerely hope that both our visions will continue to converge to the mutual benefit of both our island nations.