IRISH COMPANIES have signed contracts worth a collective €36 million during a trade mission in the Middle East.
The week-long Enterprise Ireland mission of 45 Irish companies visited Riyadh and Dammam in Saudi Arabia before moving on to Abu Dhabi in the UAE.
The firms joining Minister for Enterprise Batt O’Keeffe on the trade mission span a range of sectors including construction, engineering, information technology, education, finance and consulting.
Construction firm P Elliot and Wills Brothers Engineering announced a joint venture with the Saudi firm Alzahid Group, which is expected to generate a number of deals for the firms.
Other Irish firms to win contracts this week include Dublin-based business consultancy firm Farrelly and Mitchell and Cork-based Globetech, which is involved in parking management. Waterford company Ardmore Equine Nutrition, owned by the Gleeson family, opened a base in Dubai to service the equine and camel nutrition markets in the Middle East.
Cork-based Apex Fund Services became the first foreign fund administration firm to secure official registration for its services in Saudi Arabia.
Westmeath-based company Woodfit secured a €1.5 million deal to fit the Princess Noura University in Saudi Arabia. The specialist joinery company, which employs 28 people in Athlone, manufactures acoustic timber panelling. Its previous projects include the Wexford Opera House, Farmleigh House and the Morrison Hotel in Dublin.
In the education sector, Carlow Institute of Technology, Cork Institute of Technology and the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown got the go-ahead to train Saudi students in vocational skills, following an agreement reached by the respective governments.
Separately, the institutes of technology in Athlone, Waterford and Galway-Mayo, which were already involved in the inter-government initiative, got approval to deliver master’s programmes to Saudi scholarship students.
