Minister Richard Bruton TD (centre) pictured at the opening of International Markets Week in Dublin with Julie Sinnamon, CEO Enterprise Ireland and Terence O'Rourke, Chairman, Enterprise Ireland.

International Markets Week took place in RDS, Dublin in September. International Markets Week is Enterprise Ireland’s single largest client event involving over 600 Irish companies, all focused on breaking into international export markets. It is a significant part of Enterprise Ireland’s strategy to drive Irish exports to support business growth and create new jobs in Ireland.

International Markets Week is a practical initiative which gives Irish companies the opportunity to discuss and explore their international growth strategies with Enterprise Ireland’s team of overseas market specialists covering 45 markets. Over 2030 client meetings took place over the four days with the objective of helping Irish companies break into new export markets, or expand their sales in existing markets. The range of client companies participating covered all sectors and included companies with extensive overseas operations as well as small enterprises exporting for the first time.

Irish companies achieved a record €17.1billion in export sales, representing an 8% increase on 2012 and created 18,033 new jobs in 2013. This confirms a net increase of 5,442 in the number of people employed which is the largest net increase in a decade and underscores the impact of strong export growth in new and existing markets across the globe, on new job creation here in Ireland. These strong results confirm the major impact that Enterprise Ireland client companies have across the wider economy.

To coincide with International Markets Week, Enterprise Ireland conducted a survey of participating clients. The survey results show that almost 90% believe they will increase their exports in 2014, 84% say they will increase their employment in 2014, and 93% are optimistic on the prospects for the world’s economic trading environment.

Kevin Sherry, Enterprise Ireland’s Head of International Sales and Partnering said: ”Companies taking part in International Markets Week achieved record export sales in 2013 and we are confident that they will secure significant further export growth this year – sustaining and creating jobs in Ireland. The recent opening of three new Enterprise Ireland offices in Austin, Texas; Istanbul, Turkey; and Abu Dhabi, in the UAE is already assisting to increase the scale of Irish exports, supporting companies as they seek to win more export sales.”

By the end of 2013, companies supported by Enterprise Ireland were employing and sustaining well over 300,000 jobs (direct and indirect) in Ireland.