Ireland expanding its horizons with Mexico

Last week Ireland hosted a senior delegation of business people and politicians from Mexico.

The visit underlines the importance of international trade to the Irish economy and the regard in which Ireland is held by growth economies.

The Ireland-Mexico business conference had a clear agenda to allow a large number of Irish and Mexican companies network with the aim of striking commercial contracts. Mexico is a fast growing economy with over 110m citizens.

It already is an important market for Irish companies such as Smurfit Kappa in paper packaging and Kerry Group for food ingredients. In aviation it is home to a developing low-cost airline Viva Aerobus which is a joint investment between the largest Mexican bus company and the Ryan family trust.

As an economy exhibiting annual growth rates above those in the eurozone Mexico is a valuable marketplace for Irish companies with growth agendas. Ireland is also a significant platform from which Mexican investors can access the vast EU market. Establishing an office or production facility in Ireland gives Mexican companies an efficient gateway to the European Union.

With high-profile political support evident by both countries at the event it is probable that follow-up announcements will help deepen the relationship for mutual economic benefit.

Because Ireland has a small economy its companies have always relied on growing international footprints to ensure success and growth. That expansion has been assisted hugely by the perception of Ireland as a progressive state without the baggage that accompanies many companies arriving from far larger countries.

The latter often suffer from long histories of meddling or overtly influencing social and economic policies in emerging markets. This is especially true in the so-called developing world.

The history of Africa is strewn with stories of conquest that imposed severe conditions on local populations. China and many other states in the Asia Pacific region suffered a similar fate, while Latin America has notorious histories of aggressive foreign policy being enforced by the United States.

Against this backdrop Ireland has found a willing market for generations of company executives marketing in these fast growing countries. They are helped, undoubtedly, by the reputation of religious orders in Africa that played a key role in education and food production.

The track record of so many Irish companies as drivers of growth and believers in meritocracy when promoting managers has embellished the benefits of forging close relationships with Ireland.

This reputation can only be preserved if it is built on consistently and with genuine energy. This week, the minister for enterprise leads a trade delegation to the US that continues the work of marketing Irish companies and, as importantly, the Lazarus-like recovery of the Irish economy.

That outward facing trip compliments the welcome provided for the Mexican delegation last week. A series of such meetings, populated with senior politicians, business executives and policymakers, is key to expanding international goodwill towards Ireland that has been worked on for decades.

These ongoing campaigns to nurture greater links to global trade for Ireland reflect a national strategy that is championing open markets and free trade as a powerful enabler of economic and social development. It represents a clear alternative to the narrow nationalistic impulses that rear their heads regularly in debate and political discourse at various levels. Having such a progressive attitude towards developing a single world economy instead of a phalanx of silo economies is, in my view, one of the positive attributes evident in Irish society today.

* Joe Gill is director of corporate broking with Goodbody Capital Markets