News & Events

Minister Nash leads 4-day Enterprise Ireland trade mission to United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Number of Irish healthcare companies under the organisation’s umbrella exhibiting at Arab Health has doubled in the past 3 years

The Minister for Business and Employment, Ged Nash TD, departs today (Sunday) for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a 4-day Enterprise Ireland Dubai trade mission, aimed at building international linkages and boosting trade between Ireland and the region. The mission has been organised to coincide with Arab Health, a leading healthcare conference and trade show in the Middle East, attended by healthcare industry representatives from the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the US. It includes visits to Abu Dhabi and Dubai where Minister Nash will have a series of political and business engagements and will also meet with representatives of the Irish business community. The schedule also includes a business event with UKTI and Invest NI.

Enterprise Ireland is joined at Arab Health by over 20 of its leading client companies within the healthcare industry. Irish companies have been hugely successful in growing exports to the region and the opportunities for continued growth are very strong. In 2011, healthcare companies represented 10% of Enterprise Ireland’s total exporters in the Middle East/North Africa region, a figure that is expected to increase dramatically to around 30% by 2016.

The delegation in 2015 is made up of a number of high tech products and solutions providers within the healthcare industry, including disciplines such as vaccination, infection control, precision engineering, diagnostics, probiotics and pharmabiotics, wound care, surgical equipment and management of hospital data and records.

Speaking before his departure, Minister Nash said: ‘’Ireland is well established as a global centre of excellence in the area of medical technology. The sector brings together multinational companies and Irish owned companies, employing over 50,000 people, and we are bringing representatives of both to Dubai to participate in Arab Health. This sector is of enormous importance to Ireland but we are not resting on our achievements. The Government and the medical technology sector together continue to support research-led innovation, to ensure that we remain at the forefront of this industry.”

Commenting on the important role played by the Irish diaspora in helping promote Ireland and its exporters, Minister Nash added: “I fully appreciate the support of the Irish Diaspora in the UAE and across the region, who give generously of their time in assisting Irish companies trying to break new ground.”

Julie Sinnamon, CEO Enterprise Ireland, who is accompanying Minister Nash on the mission, said: “A key element of Enterprise Ireland’s strategy is the determination to support our client companies to grow their export sales in global markets and create jobs at home. Ireland has over 250 highly innovative life sciences companies that have been active in European and US markets for some time, and are more recently breaking new ground in the Middle East. We feel there is a strong match between their products and services and the areas of demand in this region and will continue to support their ambitious growth plans for expanding their global business.’’

ENDS

For further information contact:

Deirdre Grant, Press Advisor to Minister Nash – M: 086-0484279

Press Office, Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, 01 6312200, press.office@djei.ie.

Eileen Banks, Press Officer, Enterprise Ireland, T: 01-7272805, M: 087-2445814, eileen.banks@enterprise-ireland.com

 

Notes to editor:

  • The medical technologies industry is of key importance to the Irish economy and has continued to grow year on year despite the global recession and the challenges facing Ireland.
  • Ireland is now globally recognised as a major centre of excellence in the medical technologies sector and the Irish cluster is now on par with some of the world’s leading medtech clusters such as those in Massachusetts and Minnesota, USA.
  • The sector employs over 50,000 people directly in Ireland.
  • Our indigenous lifesciences sector now consists of over 250 Enterprise Ireland client companies.
  • Enterprise Ireland is a significant partner in Ireland’s R&D and VC ecosystem, investing millions of Euro each year to continue to foster the development of innovative healthcare tech