TÁNAISTE AND Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore told an audience of Japanese executives yesterday that his Government was “working very hard” to rebuild Ireland’s global business reputation after going through some “very difficult times”.
The Tánaiste is on a visit to Japan and South Korea to drum up business for Ireland. "The point is trade promotion," Mr Gilmore told The Irish Times,adding that the Global Irish Economic Forum in Dublin Castle last week was dominated by "the necessity of increasing our trade in Asia".
Bilateral trade with Japan is worth €4 billion a year and is growing, despite the impact of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami disaster. Japan's chief cabinet secretary told Mr Gilmore Japan would be "accelerating the process" of accepting Irish beef into the market. The Asian business community has been rattled by the euro zone debt crisis and the threat of what the Nikkeibusiness newspaper calls "contagion" in world markets.
When they met in New York last month, Japan’s new prime minister, Yoshiko Noda, urged EU president Herman Van Rompuy to solve the debt crisis.
Mr Gilmore acknowledged to an audience of Irish and Japanese business executives at the Irish Ambassador’s residence in Tokyo yesterday that the “big question” among Asian businesspeople was what was happening to the euro.
There is a “very strong determination” that the euro will survive, and that the difficulties in the euro zone will be resolved, he said. “Nobody should underestimate the determination of European political leaders and governments to ensure that the problem is resolved.”
The Tánaiste said Ireland was once the “poster child” for the economic boom but had been chastened by the “serious mistakes” of reckless lending and lack of banking regulation, which culminated in the country being forced out of the financial markets last November.
He said there had since been a “dramatic change” in the political landscape of the country and the new Government had taken quick action to reregulate banking, cut costs and reduce its budget deficit below 3 per cent.
“I’m happy to tell you that the measures we have taken are succeeding,” he said, citing the modest growth of two successive quarters and a favourable change in global commentary on the prospects for Irish economic recovery.
Mr Gilmore met the head of Japan’s most powerful business lobby, the Keidanren, and the government’s chief cabinet secretary, Osamu Fujimura, before flying last night to the South Korean capital, Seoul. He will attend the Asian Pacific Ireland Business Forum there today.
Despite the upbeat talk, the Tánaiste and his team failed to make headway on reopening the Japanese market to Irish beef products, which have been banned for over a decade. Enterprise Ireland in Tokyo said several Japanese businesses had expressed interest in investing in Ireland, home to roughly 40 Japanese companies.
Mr Gilmore also expressed sympathy for the victims of the March 11th disaster, calling it “a tragedy that the Irish people feel a lot of sympathy for”. Ireland donated €1 million to the Red Cross after the disaster.