Minister O’Keeffe announces €36m in deals for Irish firms on Middle-Eastern trade mission

4 November 2010

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O’Keeffe TD, today [Thursday] announced that Irish firms landed deals worth over €36 million during a trade mission to the Middle East this week.

The trade mission was organised by the Government's indigenous job creation agency, Enterprise Ireland.

Most of the contracts won this week are in the construction sector with firms such as PM Group, Jones Engineering and Woodfit.

Construction firm P. Elliott and Wills Brothers Engineering announced a joint venture with the Alzahid Group - a large Saudi construction-based firm with over 31,000 workers worldwide.

It is expected that the partnership will generate a number of lucrative construction deals for the two firms which are based in Cavan and Mayo.

Cork-based Apex Fund Services was the first foreign fund administration firm to secure official registration for its services in Saudi Arabia.

The deal means Apex Fund Services, already active in several export markets, can begin to grow its business in the Middle East.

Other Irish firms that won contracts this week include Dublin-based business consultancy firm Farrelly and Mitchell and Cork-based Globetech which is involved in parking management. Waterford company Ardmore Equine Nutrition, owned by the Gleeson family, opened a base in Dubai to service the equine and camel nutrition markets in the Middle East.

In the education sector, Carlow Institute of Technology, Cork Institute of Technology and Blanchardstown Institute of Technology in Dublin got the go-ahead to train Saudi students in vocational skills following an agreement reached by the Irish and Saudi governments.

Meanwhile, the institutes of technology in Athlone, Waterford and Galway-Mayo, which were already involved in the inter-government initiative, got approval to deliver masters programmes to Saudi scholarship students.

The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O’Keeffe TD, accepts a gift from Saudi Arabia’s Minister for Education, Prince Faisal bin Abdullah bin Mohammed, during an Enterprise Ireland trade mission to the Middle East.

Minister O'Keeffe described this week's trade mission as 'an important boost for Ireland's export-led economic recovery'.

'Enterprise Ireland client firms' exports to the Middle East are worth €385 million and this week's trade mission shows that there is scope to dramatically ramp up our business activity in the rapidly growing emerging market.

'The deals signed this week anchor our client base in the region, helping Irish firms across a range of sectors to break new ground in high-potential markets and create jobs for Irish workers at home and abroad.

'Our meetings with senior government figures in the Middle East and top-level representatives in some of the region's largest corporations helped to deliver lucrative deals for Irish firms and open doors for further investment opportunities,' said Minister O'Keeffe.

The Government’s new integrated plan to promote overseas trade, tourism and investment, ‘Trading and Investing in a Smart Economy’, identifies the Gulf region as an emerging market.

'In the construction sector alone, the Saudi government is implementing a $400 billion public investment plan which, coupled with high activity levels in the private sector, means that business opportunities for Irish firms, particularly in specialised sub-contracting, are very strong,' said Minister O'Keeffe.

The chief executive of Enterprise Ireland, Frank Ryan, said: ‘The scale and breadth of contracts secured by Irish firms during this mission provides a glimpse of the scale of opportunity for Irish firms in the market.

'Breaking into the Saudi market requires hard work and a keen focus on relationship-building.

'However, the Saudi companies we met this week were extremely positive towards Irish companies and Irish products and they were clear in their message that they are very open to working with us.

'The contracts achieved during this week give proof to that message and we are confident that further Irish successes will continue to come out of Saudi Arabia.

'We will steadfastly continue to support and guide Irish companies to pursue and secure these opportunities, with the resulting positive impact on sustaining and expanding employment.'

ENDS

Bernard Mallee, Press Adviser to Minister Batt O'Keeffe, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, on Tel: +353 1 631 3944, Mobile: +353 87 9173022, Email: bernard.mallee@deti.ie