Ireland's Ministerial Trade Visit To The United Arab Emirates And Qatar Set To Strengthen Business Collaboration And Build Further Upon Economic Ties

Ireland’s Minister for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Robert Troy T.D, begins a two-country trade visit to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar focused on strengthening the business collaboration between Irish companies and local partners in the region to enhance trade opportunities.

Organised by Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Government’s trade and innovation agency, the trade visit aims to to support an accelerated economic recovery for Ireland emerging from the global pandemic by building on the success already achieved by Irish companies in the region.In 2020, companies backed by Enterprise Ireland recorded €152m in exports to the UAE, an increase of 12per cent on the previous year. Irish businesses innovated and adapted to ensure they could continue trading and, in some cases, increase or win new business.

Robert Troy T.D., Ireland’s Minister for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, said, “The UAE and Ireland enjoy a strong trading relationship with Irish companies more and more enjoying business success in the UAE. This trade visit to the UAE will seek to build further on the business connections by helping further promote Irish innovation in the sustainability and cleantech sectors. We are seeing year on year growth of exports by Irish companies to the UAE, increasing by 12 per cent last year, even against the backdrop of the challenges experienced by the pandemic.”

Collaborating for a Greener, More Sustainable Future

With the focus on collaborating for a greener, more sustainable future being more important than ever, one of the central parts to the visit programme for Minister Troy is supporting the Irish companies participating at WETEX, hosted by Enterprise Ireland on the Ireland Pavilion.  In this shared agenda for a greener future, Irish companies are helping partners across the region and worldwide to be ready for a green future.Whilst at WETEX, Minister Troy held a series of meetings that included with:

• H.E. Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Director General and CEO, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority to discuss areas for further collaboration between Ireland and the UAE, including the invitation to the Director General and DEWA team to visit Ireland.
• HE Munther bin Shekar Al Zaabi, Director General of Ras Al-Khaimah Municipality to discuss areas for partnership opportunities between Ras Al-Khaimah Municipality and Irish smart energy companies.
• Mr. Niall Hannigan, Chief Financial Officer at Masdar to discuss areas for collaboration and cooperation.

Minister Troy welcomed a series of announcements made during WETEX by several of the Enterprise Ireland supported companies, participating at WETEX including:

• NuLumenTek,the specialists in sustainable energy solutions, announce they have been awarded the contract to supply the architectural lighting for the external public areas on the refurbishment of the Dubai Metro stations, the first stations are Dubai Internet City (DIC), Damac and UAE Exchange.The primary focus is to light the public areas with the lowest possible power to deliver energy efficient lighting, whist delivering safe uniform light levels with the fewest number of luminaires due to the restrictions of the many underground utility services around the stations.Jim Healy, Managing Director at NuLumenTek said, “We are very proud to be awarded this contract, we have an excellent track record in the region and previously supplied the 40Km Doha metro green line in Qatar, so we are delighted to be growing this side of our business. We have operated from our office in Abu Dhabi since 2013 and last year decided to invest in opening a new office in Dubai, our team here and in Ireland worked on the design development of this project with the consultants and specialist contractors to ensure we met the RTA’s requirements.”
• NuLumenTek also revealed that it has prequalified, as part of the Dussmann-STS consortium, to bid for the Phase 2 Abu Dhabi LED Street lighting PPP project for the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO). The project includes almost 136,000 streetlights and is one of the largest retrofit projects in the region.
• Amarenco Group, the leading solar IPP specialists operating projects across Europe, Middle East and Asia, announces the establishment of its new regional office in Dubai. The company have successfully delivered over 2,000 solar photovoltaic infrastructure projects worldwide working in close collaboration with farmers, local authorities, real estate owners, and businesses for more than a decade.Yazan Faouri, CEO of AmarencoGroup MENA said, “We are delighted to announce the establishment of our Amarenco Group regional office in Dubai that will lead our operations across the Middle East and North Africa. As an international solar energy developer, investor and operator with operations in more than 16 countries in Europe, Caribbean, AsiaPac, Middle East and North Africa,Amarenco is one of the fastest growing Solar PV investment companies in the MENA region.”

• Aquamonitrix Ltd announces the global launch of the Aquamonitrix® real-time nitrate and nitrite analyser during WETEX.The company provides water resource managers with accurate, user friendly and affordable analysers for nutrient monitoring. Mark Bowkett, CEO of Aquamonitrix Ltd said, “Aquamonitrix® is a revolutionary new real-time analyser, enabling water resource managers to measure, understand and control nitrate and nitrite pollutants with previously unavailable accuracy, ease of use and affordability in operating and lifetime costs.” He added,“Following climate change, nitrogen pollution is one of the world’s most challenging and costly environmental problems. It has quantifiable financial impacts on rivers, lakes, coastal zones and groundwater quality. So, the market potential for Aquamonitrix® is growing and global, including the Gulf countries.” John McGrath, Aquamonitrix Sales Director said, “We are excited about the potential for Aquamonitrix® as the Gulf region increasingly builds out its wastewater infrastructure and tightens its environmental regulations. Aquamonitrix® can help nitrate emitters. including large-scale farms, meat processors and municipal wastewater treatment authorities. meet effluent discharge limits more cost-effectively and with lower greenhouse gas emissions.”
• ESB International, a leading global engineering consultancy firm, wholly owned by the Electricity Supply Board of Ireland, announces the appointment of Dr John Rafferty to their team in the GCC to lead their work in Oman. Dr Rafferty is a Clean Energy Technology and Energy Efficiency Consultant with extensive experience in the energy industry, including roles in international consultancy, project delivery, R&D and strategic policy development for ESB Group, Ireland's largest electricity utility.Much like Ireland, the GCC are seeking to move further towards the utilisation of clean energy solutions.

Other Irish companies participating at WETEX included:

• BHSL Waste Solutions is an Irish agri-tech company that has developed a unique, patented Fluidised Bed Combustion solution that converts animal manures and municipal sludges into heat and power.
• Green Biofuels Ireland is a leading supplier of Biodiesel, Glycerol, Potassium Sulphate, and other Biofuel products throughout Ireland and across Europe.
• Lumcloon Energy is a specialist development company focusing on projects which enable the transition to a decarbonised power system.
• Suparule Systems Ltd. is an Irish Company specialising in the development, manufacture & supply of electronic test & measurement instruments for technical personnel in the utility, industrial, construction & commercial sectors.

Accompanying Minister Troy on the trade visit, Kevin Sherry, Executive Director of Enterprise Ireland, said, "Over 475 Enterprise Ireland client companies are seeing the growing opportunities of the UAE and wider Arab region.  Across cleantech, fintech, and medtech, Irish companies are being supported by our Enterprise Ireland team to grow the commercial opportunities even further. By doing so, it brings mutual benefits to both Ireland and the local partners across the region. This trade visit will focus on our track record of close cooperation with the Middle East. It will further explore mutually beneficial business opportunities, areas for collaboration, and generate awareness of Ireland’s world leading innovation delivering the future.”

Other Highlights of Minister Troy’s Programme During the Trade Visit to the UAE

• Minister Troy is to address a joint event hosted by the Clean Energy Business Council MENA and Enterprise Ireland to highlight ‘Clean Energy in MENA & Ireland - Shared Experiences on a Journey to a Net-Zero Future’. which aims to bring together Irish cleantech and sustainability companies with leading local and international organizations in the MENA clean energy sector from both the private and public spheres.Other speeches delivered at the event will include Dr. Nasser H. Saidi, Founder and President of Nasser Saidi& Associates and Chairman of the regional Clean Energy Business Council. Kevin Sherry, Executive Director of Enterprise Ireland who is accompanying the Minister on the trade visit will make the closing address.
• Minister Troy will address the Irish Business Network in Dubai. The breakfast event will also provide an opportunity to meet with key Irish diaspora from the business community in the UAE.
• Minister Troy to meet with Khalid Faraz, CEO of Noon.com alongside Liam Hyland, Director of Export and International Trade at Musgrave, Ireland’s leading food retail and wholesale company.
• Minister Troy to participate in a roundtable with DP World. The roundtable will include representatives from DP World Group, including DryDocks World, Enterprise Ireland, and Irish company Combilift.

Expo 2020 Dubai

During the trade visit, Minister Troy will visit the Expo 2020 Dubai site and as the first Irish Minister to visit since the start of the Expo, Minister Troy will formally open the Ireland Pavilion. Commenting on the opportunity of Expo 2020 Dubai, Minister Troy said,“Expo 2020 Dubai marks an opportunity for the world to convene, reconnect, and share knowledge with each other as we emerge from the pandemic era. It also acts as a business catalyst to explore opportunities, forge new collaboration, and engage in new partnerships to meet the evolving challenges and opportunities in respect to the pandemic recovery, digitalisation, and climate change.”

Qatar Visit

Minister Troy will depart the UAE for short stop in Qatar where he will hold high level meetings focused on the financial services, fintech, and medtech sectors.