Forty-five Enterprise Ireland clients will participate in a six-day trade mission to China, with the aim of increasing exports by €0.4 billion by 2020.

Enterprise Ireland client exports to the Asia Pacific region grew by 9% to €1.97 billion in 2017, and Ireland continues to build its export footprint in the Asia Pacific region.

In 2017, Enterprise Ireland client exports to Greater China grew by 9.7% cent to record levels of €1.03 billion, with China now accounting for 52% of client exports to the Asia Pacific region. Building on this strong growth trend and market potential, Enterprise Ireland has set ambitious targets to grow exports to Greater China by 40% to €1.44 billion by 2020 and to increase exports to the Asia Pacific region by over 50% from €1.97 billion to €3 billion by 2020.

Expanding the reach of Irish enterprise in diversified export markets is a key strategic priority for Enterprise Ireland and international trade missions and trade fair participation is key to delivering on this.

Companies including Hostelworld, Glen Dimplex, Emerald Green Baby, Cartoon Saloon, PM Group and Irish Breeze are among the companies participating in the inaugural CIIE. The event will be a pivotal platform to promote Ireland to Chinese importers as a source of world class products and services across a range of sectors.

This is the first time that the Government of Ireland, through Enterprise Ireland, is participating in Hong Kong FinTech Week, which will provide an important platform to showcase Ireland's fintech strengths and for eleven Enterprise Ireland backed fintech companies including KnowYourCustomer, GlobalShares, CurrencyFair, Fenergo and Corlytics to strengthen their business in Hong Kong and the wider APAC region.

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys said, "Irish companies are winning business across global markets at an unprecedented scale and trade missions play a critical role in supporting our indigenous companies to gain worldwide recognition and achieve even greater levels of export success. Ireland's presence at Hong Kong Fintech Week and CIIE will help to accelerate the expansion of Enterprise Ireland backed companies across into mainland China and Hong Kong."

Enterprise Ireland CEO Julie Sinnamon said, "Enterprise Ireland companies are selling into more international markets than ever, but in the context of Brexit, our focus is on accelerating this to an even greater degree."

Tom Cusack, Enterprise Ireland's Regional Director, Asia Pacific, said, "The expanding influence of China, through growing affluence, and the digitalisation of economies and sectors, all point towards the increasing economic importance of the Asia Pacific region for Irish companies. This trade mission is focused on the win-win across both markets and there are significant wins to be gained on both sides."