November: Global Irish Economic Forum 2015
The 4th Global Irish Economic Forum (GIEF) took place in Dublin Castle on 20-21 November 2015. Four regional meetings of the Forum were held in Derry, Galway, Limerick and Laois on 19 November.
The 2015 GIEF was attended by over 350 participants drawn from the Global Irish Network of influential Irish and Irish-connected people abroad who provide Ireland with valuable international expertise, as well as other representatives from business, technology, educational, cultural and government sectors.
Through a mixture of plenary sessions, panel debates and breakout sectoral discussions, the GIEF event programme examined three themes that will help shape the Ireland of the future:
- Economic Development - advancing sustainable growth over the medium and longer term;
- Re-imagining Ireland - building a legacy for our future generations; and,
- Ireland’s place in the world - how our global island responds to international challenges.
Exchanges throughout the GIEF focused on a select number of sectors of high growth and job creation potential, including financial services, international education, research and innovation, agri-food and the creative economy. Participants highlighted the importance of ensuring that Ireland can capitalise on opportunities in each of these sectors as they emerge. .
As in previous fora, participants also suggested issues for additional follow up. These will be taken forward by the relevant Government Departments and State Agencies, as well as within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Irish Abroad Unit. Several have already featured in publicly-announced Government initiatives such as Food Wise 2025 and the International Financial Services Strategy 2020.
A full report on the 2015 Global Irish Economic Forum is available at https://www.dfa.ie/media/globalirish/business/Report-GIEF-2015.pdf