The message from Ireland is that its economy is back to growth. But for that to continue Ireland is looking toward Asia due to the potential for growing its exports and attracting investments.

Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore was in Seoul last week to address the 5th annual Asia Pacific Ireland Business Forum while also meeting with Korean business partners and opening the 16th Asian Gaelic Games in Suwon.

“We’re on the road to recovery,” he told The Korea Herald.

The Irish economy grew in the first two quarters of this year with the second seeing 1.6 percent growth.

“It’s modest but it’s the first time since 2007 that we had two successive quarters of growth so its good news,” said Gilmore.

The Irish food and beverage sector has traditionally been a strong player in the Korean economy.

“We are a food producing country and we are particularly keen to grow that sector and that sector is doing very well,” he said.

The IT sector is also showing promise due to the potential of growth in the gaming industry.

“We also see potential for growth in areas like medical technologies, pharmaceuticals, addressing the link between the medical technologies and advances in medicine, particularly care for (the) elderly.”

Bilateral trade reached $10.1 billion last year fueled by the imports of IT, food and beverages, medical equipment and supplies, and computers from Ireland. On the other hand, Korea exported $381 million worth of semiconductors, railroad cars, monitors and synthetic chemicals.

Gilmore is also out to promote Ireland’s educational sector for English as a second language.

“Ireland is English-speaking, part of Europe, a member of the euro and it is probably not as well known in Asia and it needs to be. Therefore we have a job to do promoting it as a location for investment and as a location for English education.”

Gilmore pointed out that Ireland is an ideal place to learn the English language due to its strong reputation in the use of the English language and communication.

Investments into both countries are virtually equal, totaling a combined $5 billion.

“Korea is a very important part of our ambition,” he said. “When you look at the size of this economy, when you look at its market, the potential for Korean investment in Ireland is very big and that’s what we are promoting.”

Concerning Northern Ireland, Gilmore explained that the political and diplomatic process in engaging with its neighbors has been a success.

“Over the course of a decade and a half now, we have built a peace process with Northern Ireland and we have built a relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland” built on economic issues, he said.

The Irish experience is one of three models that the Korean government looks at when examining the possibilities and ramifications of reunification with North Korea, the others being the Chinese model in handling Hong Kong, and Taiwan and Germany.

“First there is a political dialogue, then a peace settlement so that there is no hostility which leads to a structure that enables us to talk about practical economic cooperation,” he noted.

“It works to the economic advantage of both sides of the border.”

By Yoav Cerralbo (yoav@heraldcorp.com)