Tánaiste convenes inaugural meeting of the Government Trade Forum

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Harris chaired the first meeting of the new Government Trade Forum today.

The Forum, which was set up two weeks ago, comprises Government Ministers, State Agencies and business representative groups and has been established to facilitate engagement with key domestic stakeholders on latest and emerging trade developments and opportunities.

Speaking today, the Tánaiste said: “As an open and globalised economy, it is of the utmost importance that we maintain a strategic focus on the international trading environment and that we have the right structures to support the next phase of our economic growth.

“The Government Trade Forum will be an important forum of exchange with key government and business stakeholders on how we best mitigate the most challenging aspects and identify the opportunities to grow Ireland’s trading relationships.”

The Tánaiste added: “I want to thank the members of the Trade Forum who met today for a substantive and frank exchange on transatlantic and EU trade developments. We also discussed the plans for an ambitious schedule of Ministerial-led trade missions in 2025 in collaboration with Irish business and State Agencies. These have started already and will continue intensively through the year as a key part of the international promotion of Ireland.

“It is clear that while there are challenges to be navigated, there are also opportunities to further develop Ireland’s international trading relationships. Identifying and maximising those opportunities will be a major focus of the St Patrick’s Day programme next month. Today’s first meeting is the continuation of a detailed engagement by Government with the business sector and the Forum will meet again in April to consider a comprehensive work programme informed by the discussion today.”

The members of the Government Trade Forum include relevant government departments and business/ sectoral representatives, as follows:

• Department of the Taoiseach
• Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
• Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment
• Department of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine
• Department of Finance
• Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
• Enterprise Ireland
• IDA Ireland
• Bord Bia
• Tourism Ireland
• Research Ireland
• Ibec
• Irish Exporters Association
• ISME
• American Chamber of Commerce Ireland
• Chambers Ireland
• British Irish Chamber of Commerce

The Terms of Reference for the new Government Trade Forum are:

• enhance multi-stakeholder policy dialogue to foster a broad understanding of Ireland’s trade opportunities and challenges
• discuss emerging trade policy developments and their implications for Irish sectors
• share expertise to inform Ireland’s trade policy and exchange views on country and regional specific developments; and
• update members on key developments in international trade and their impact on Ireland