THE GLOBAL economic downturn presents opportunities as well as challenges and nations must build on existing partnerships and strategic alliances to chart a way out of the crisis, President Mary McAleese told an audience in Abu Dhabi yesterday.
Speaking to students and staff of the Abu Dhabi Higher College of Technology, Mrs McAleese noted that some of the most turbulent financial periods have sparked innovation and fresh thinking, giving examples such as the creation of consumer electronics and plastics industries in the 1930s, and the birth of the personal computer in the 1970s.
“It’s almost as if our brains go into idle mode when times are easy . . . and when we are pressured we push the creative button,” the President said. “Some of the most interesting ideas come in times of recession.” Mrs McAleese, who was accompanied by Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin on the first day of her official visit to the United Arab Emirates, acknowledged the strong business, trade and educational ties that have grown between Ireland and the UAE over several decades.
Trade between the two countries amounts to about €650 million a year, and a popular daily flight links Dublin to the UAE.
She praised the role of the 4,000 Irish nationals who live and work in the Emirates. “They help us to grow the business partnerships and alliances which strengthen both our economies and equip us to make the best of good times and face into the more difficult times.” The increasing links between the countries had been underlined, the President said, by the announcement this week that Ireland will open an embassy in Abu Dhabi in the coming months.
The global economic turmoil, which had “spread like a flu virus” leaving few countries untouched, had “reminded us how interconnected we are to each other,” she told the audience. “We know we need good friends and partners in the wider world. That is why we look to the strengths that will carry us beyond recession, to the strategic alliances, joint ventures, collaborative research and development projects, the innovations and creativity from which will come the new generation ideas and concepts of future developments and prosperity.”
The President discussed economic relations during a lunch with the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, whose family has extensive business interests in Ireland, most notably in the horse racing industry.
Later Mrs McAleese met with members of the Irish community based in the UAE at a reception held at the Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi. She praised them for helping “drive networks of business, culture, sport, government and friendship between Ireland and the Emirates,” saying she was certain they would assist the new embassy in “continuing to put Ireland on the map here in the Gulf”.