Over 150 senior business leaders from Asia Pacific’s leading telecoms, banks and airlines were in Dublin yesterday with Irish companies at Enterprise Ireland’s Ambition Asia Pacific Conference.
As part of the conference, there will be a series of events and meetings with Irish companies with the potential to scale or enter the Asia Pacific region. Over 600 Enterprise Ireland companies are currently exporting to the regions with exports of over €2bn, but a third of all Enterprise Ireland clients are focused on expanding into this market, with Asian economies forecast to be larger than the rest of the world combined by 2020.
The delegation includes over 50 representatives from China Hi Tech Shenzhen, China’s important hub for electronics and digital technologies. Senior decision makers from 18 Asia Pacific airlines and 35 Asia Pacific banks are also part of the high-level delegation, including: airlines Hong Kong Express, SF Express China, NokAir Thailand and banks including Yes Bank India, HSBC Singapore, and telecoms including Vodafone India and SK Telecom Korea.
The centre piece of the week was the Enterprise Ireland Ambition Asia Pacific conference in the Aviva yesterday bringing together the Asia Pacific delegation and over 200 Irish companies with their sights on the region.
Keynote speakers at the event included:
Brian Mehigan, Chief Strategy Officer, Kerry Group Plc
Felimy Green, former Chief Digital & Client Experience Officer, Asia & EMEA at Citi
Niall Norton, CEO Openet
Elaine Coughlan, Partner Atlantic Bridge, Andrew Day, CEO Keywords
Denis Hickie General Manager, ATA Group
Juliette Hussey, VP at Trinity College
Rugby legend Brian O’Driscoll also joins the event today to share his perspective on building ambition in high performing teams.
Welcoming the delegation to Ireland and officially opening the event, Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection, Pat Breen said, "As the world’s fastest growing region, the Irish Government, through Enterprise Ireland is supporting Irish companies to build its considerable export footprint in Asia Pacific. Our companies continue to succeed in winning business and forming strategic investment partnerships in global markets."
Enterprise Ireland’s Regional Director for the Asia Pacific region, Tom Cusack added, "With such a high-level delegation from Asia Pacific in Ireland this week, the focus is on showcasing Ireland’s strengths and capabilities and strengthening our business ties and exports to the region. The region’s size, economic growth rates and increasing accessibility presents a huge opportunity for Irish exporters."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
