With a focus on growing Irish exports to the United Arab Emirates to €2 billion by 2020, over 30 Enterprise Ireland clients representing sectors including aviation, technology and financial services are participating on the Enterprise Ireland trade and investment mission to the United Arab Emirates and Oman this week. Led by An Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Frances Fitzgerald TD, the trade mission including the Dubai Air Show is focused on increasing Irish exports to the region by over 40% in 2020, from €1.4 billion in 2016.
The three-day trade mission, covering Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat in Oman, will see 32 Enterprise Ireland clients, some of whom are Brexit exposed, participate in 11 Enterprise Ireland business events and over 200 pre-arranged meetings with potential buyers in the Arab States.
As part of the mission, eight Enterprise Ireland client companies including Dublin Aerospace, Botany Weaving, Aerospace Software Developments and the Atlantic Aviation Group are exhibiting at the Dubai Airshow, one of the biggest aviation trade shows in the world.
Among the new deals announced at the Dubai Airshow, Botany Weaving the Dublin based, world-leading manufacturer of aviation fabrics and carpets announced that it has secured a multi-million dollar deal with a UAE airline to supply interior textiles.
With a focus on growing Ireland’s position in the aviation industry worldwide, Enterprise Ireland will host a thought leaders aviation event at the Dubai Airshow with Irish aviation leaders, including; Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director, Dubai Duty Free; Ray Gammell, Interim CEO and Chief People & Performance Officer, Etihad Airways; Paul Byrne, CEO, FlyNAS; and Eugene Barry, Executive VP Commercial Group, Dubai Airports.
Commencing the trade mission, An Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Frances Fitzgerald TD said, “The Irish aviation sector, contributing over €4 billion to GDP in 2016, is one of Ireland’s success stories. The Dubai Airshow is an important platform to showcase the very best of what Ireland offers to the aviation world and to engage with Irish aviation leaders who are shaping the aviation sector across this region.
“There has been a marked increase in Irish company exports to the UAE and Oman in recent years and the focus of my Department through our agencies, and trade missions is to support more companies particularly those who are Brexit exposed to achieve further market diversification and grow their international exports. Over the course of the trade mission, I look forward to engaging with key decision makers at the highest levels in Government and Industry to promote Ireland as a source of world-class products and services.”
Julie Sinnamon, Enterprise Ireland CEO said “In the context of Brexit, expanding the Irish export footprint in markets beyond the UK is a key priority for Enterprise Ireland. Enterprise Ireland has set a target to grow exports to the United Arab Emirates to €2 billion in 2020, from €1.4 billion in 2016. Last year, 240 Enterprise Ireland-led companies across various sectors including fintech, ICT, engineering, lifesciences, aerospace, education and premium foods exported to the UAE. The trade and investment mission to the UAE and Oman sets out to build on the strong foothold of Irish companies in these markets to achieve our export targets.”
At the Dubai Airshow, a number of Enterprise Ireland clients announced new deals and company milestones.
Botany Weaving the Dublin based, world-leading manufacturer of aviation fabrics and carpets announced that it has secured a multi-million dollar deal with a UAE airline to supply interior textiles.
The Irish technology company TIC, whose IATA award winning software BizTweet is helping airports across four continents with automated passenger communications via social media, announced that it has signed a contract with a major UAE airport to implement BizTweet technology. The technology uses data driven artificial intelligence to communicate highly personalised and highly relevant messages to passengers in a timely manner via Twitter and Facebook.
Aerospace Software Development (ASD), the Dublin based aerospace and aviation software solutions company, announced that it has secured another airline customer in the UAE. The company’s software will facilitate the tracking of Emergency Equipment on the new customer’s complete fleet of aircraft. This development represents continued growth in the implementation of the company’s business solutions in the Middle East. ASD provides software solutions to over 40 aviation companies worldwide.
Miagen the Irish enterprise financial information solutions company announced the launch of LeaseGen, a new financial management product for the aviation sector. LeaseGen will help lessors to plan more efficiently and to have better visibility of information to drive profitability in their business.
Irish company Flightman, a global leader in the provision of Connected Aircraft solutions to airlines announced that Abu Dhabi based Royal Jet has selected Flightman as their software provider for their fleet wide Electronic Flight Bag deployment.
