1 year ago
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Photo courtesy DepositPhotos
Since establishing a partnership with Greater New Orleans Inc. last year, the World Trade Center New Orleans will host its first business trade mission to connect with foreign markets in Ireland.
Participants of the mission will be educated on Ireland’s growing economy while gaining B2B prospects, meeting with successful Irish company front runners and key government officials to acquire knowledge on business attraction efforts. They will discuss opportunities for expansion of Louisiana-based business assets, including a focus on the health sciences and technology industries.
The mission adds excitement on multiple levels, as explained by Michael Hecht, president & CEO of GNO, Inc.
“First, it represents mutual economic opportunity, especially in tech and healthcare,” Hecht said in a news release. “Second, the story of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ is one that can inspire and inform our own strategy here in Greater New Orleans.”
It will also include visits to local research institutions and engagements with U.S. companies that have invested in Ireland and Irish companies, which could potentially gain resources from Louisiana markets.
IDA Ireland, the organization leading inward foreign direct investment into Ireland and organizing the trade mission, has been coordinating closely with the World Trade Center New Orleans. The Ambassador of Ireland to the United States, Geraldine Byrne Nason, visited New Orleans last month to meet with members of the delegation.
“We very much look forward to welcoming this business delegation to Ireland,” Byrne Nason said in the news release. “We see great potential in our business relationship with Louisiana. The U.S. is one of Ireland’s largest and most important trading partners, and Ireland is the ninth largest source of FDI into the U.S. We want to grow this mutually beneficial relationship with states like Louisiana, with which Ireland shares such strong historic people to people ties.”
Ireland serves as a Top 10 location for inward and outward FDI with the United States. Investments and trades flow tremendously between Louisiana and Ireland with virtually $116 billion dollars in goods traded. This makes Ireland an ideal business partner for the state, sharing low business costs and attractive business tax structures.
Keywords Studios, and Irish-based gaming company, announced the procurement of New Orleans-based High Voltage Software in 2020 for $50 million.
“Over the past 30-years, the Irish economy has experienced transformational economic growth. I am excited to meet with leading Irish companies that have helped drive this growth and explore expansion opportunities to Louisiana,” Director of the World Trade Center New Orleans Harrison Crabtree said in a news release. “Trade missions such as this one, serve as a critical tool for creating economic prosperity across the state and connecting Louisiana businesses with a global audience.”
Both Louisiana and Ireland are rising in the ranks as leading areas for advancement to legacy tech hubs.
“From the Irish Channel to the Emerald Isle, it seems only fitting with our rich shared cultural history to have the World Trade Center New Orleans’s first trade mission under the operational partnership with GNO, Inc. be to Ireland,” Kristi App, board chair of the World Trade Center New Orleans, said in a news release. “With its vibrant economy, especially in the tech and health care sectors, the trade mission to Ireland creates opportunities for Louisiana companies to build relationships that will result in increased trade between our regions.”
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