An Enterprise Ireland trade mission, led by Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore T.D. will visit Turkey from 8-11 April 2013. The aim of the visit is to increase trade between Turkey and Ireland.

The delegation will undertake a series of high level meetings with government Ministries in Ankara together with a number of business meetings, followed by a series of business engagements and business networking events in Istanbul. 25 Irish software, engineering and internationally traded services companies will participate on the trade mission.

According to Kevin Buckley, Enterprise Ireland Manager for Turkey and Italy, the trade mission will serve as an important springboard for Irish companies wishing to expand their focus in the Turkish market and build on their regional footprint. Speaking in advance of the trade mission he said:

‘Enterprise Ireland is encouraging its client companies to expand their businesses in Turkey. In fact, Irish companies are a major investor in Turkey, with several thousand people employed by Irish companies in Turkey already. Bilateral trade between Ireland and Turkey is currently approaching €1 billion. Indigenous Irish companies’ exports in this trade volume is nearly €50 million, and the ambition is to triple this number in the next number of years’.