January 13, 2009
Ireland hopes to restore pork exports to Japan
Ireland's government chieftain, Brian Cowen is in Japan to restore the Japanese market for Irish pork products following the dioxin contamination late last year.
Cowen will be accompanied by Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith and Junior Enterprise Minister John McGuinness.
Japan has the world's second-largest economy and Irish exports to the country are worth around EUR2 billion (US$2.6 billion) annually.
However, the vast majority of this trade comes from foreign-owned multinationals, with Irish-owned firms exporting just EUR95 million (US$126 million) worth of goods.
In this week's trade mission which was arranged by Enterprise Ireland, has about 70 Irish companies and organisations taking part.
