This year marks the forty-eighth years of diplomatic relationship between Ireland and Malaysia. Whilst the embassy of Ireland was officially established in Malaysia in 1995. The establishment of the embassy in our nation was significant as it was the first Irish Embassy in the Southeast Asia region.
It is easy to overlook the presence of Irish when the world is abuzz with noises of geopolitical tension. For those of us growing up in the Klang Valley, the name “Assunta” would spell out familiarity and warmth. Assunta School has its Irish roots when the Irish nuns who started with the school in 1950s. Many women were educated by this institution.
BusinessToday recent interview with H.E. Hilary Reilly was timed at the opportune period.
Her Excellency was posted to Malaysia just right before the start of the pandemic. “I cannot wait to go out to meet and talk to people in person even more, with pandemic restrictions lifted ,” she remarked.
Having stayed here for more than three years, Her Excellency stated how she loves batik, Malaysian food, the richness of the nature and biodiversity of this nation and quite unexpectedly, weather too. The writer asked if there is anything she does not like.
“Monsoon rain!” came her reply.
Without any doubt, education has played a major part in the Ireland – Malaysia relationship. Malaysians have pursued their medical studies in Ireland and this goes back over the last 70 years. It is worth stressing that many international schools in Malaysia have hired Irish people as the teachers.
“How would Ireland maintain its competitive advantage in this field?”
“It is a very good question! Ireland prides itself for offering high quality education for the students. Using English as its main medium of communication has set us an advantage too. High-quality, and internationally-recognised degrees, safe and welcoming environment, our universities also have integration programme to ensure our international students settle-in well. These are strong foundations but it doesn’t mean we are complacent. We need to compete and maintain our edge.”
“We recognize the student today need to prepare not just for the current market but also for the future. In Ireland, we have a lot of international companies as well as Irish companies who are innovative and competing globally . Besides, Global Innovation Index ranks Ireland number one in knowledge diffusion and impact,” she added.
“Besides, as our tertiary education goes with the flow of the time, we ensure elements like creativity and practicality are carved into the studies.”
“Ireland is now a top medtech global hub and is home to up to 350 companies in the sector, including 14 of the world’s top 15 medtech companies. Half of the medtech companies are Irish. And it should emphasized that students get to expose to culture of innovation and wider ecosystem of creativity in the education system. Meaning that they are future-proofing. And on practical level as well. Another advantage of studying in Ireland is that it gives international students the ability to stay on after graduation and gain work experience for one to two years if they meet the conditions of the Third Level Graduate Programme. . With over 1,000 multinational companies based in Ireland and a well-earned reputation as the “Silicon Valley of Europe”, students will have plenty of options to launch
their career on the global stage thanks to their Irish education.”
Trade relation takes the central stage of any bilateral relationship between two nations.
“What could be gleaned from the decades of bilateral trade relationship between Ireland and Malaysia is that this relationship is growing and going strong. There are about 100 Irish companies doing business with, or established in Malaysia. Majority of these Irish companies are into the fields of digital technologies, electronics, and agricultural technology.”
In 2021, Malaysia exported Euro1.8 billion worth of goods to Ireland, the highest number ever registered between the two nations. Whilst, Malaysia imported MYR1 billion of goods from Ireland. The bulk of imported goods were dairy products, agricultural machinery, and electrical goods.
“Enterprise Ireland is playing a key role in supporting Irish companies seeking opportunities in Malaysia’s digital technologies, electronics and engineering sectors,” Reilly explained.
“Cleantech, agritech, medtech and education continue to perform and add appeal to Irish exporters and service providers who want to scale, and develop a presence in the Malaysian market. Important emerging sectors are smart mobility and consumer retail. ”
In January 2020, the Irish government launched a new Global Ireland Asia-Pacific Strategy 2020-2025 just before the pandemic. The framework underlines five strategies to work on for the entire Asia Pacific region with the aim to expand and deepen relationships in the Asia Pacific region and to enhance Ireland’s visibility.
“One of the strategies is to grow bilateral trade in the entire APEC region to Euro 100 billion by 2025. And it did grow exponentially from Euro 23 billion in 2008 to Euro 56 billion in 2018,” Reilly remarked.
St. Patrick’s Day is a known celebration of Irish culture and identity. But there are critics who say the day is being too commercialised and fosters negative stereotypes of the Irish people. “How would you address such claims please?” BusinessToday asked.
“St. Patrick’s Day has many dimensions. It is about cherishing our bonds around the world as we have an estimated global diaspora of 70 million Irish people scattered all over the world, a huge diaspora. St. Patrick’s Day is also a day for the Irish people to come together to celebrate their heritage whether it is holding parades around the world, for example there is an Irish festival organized in Penang by the Penang Irish Association every March. Generally, we use St. Patrick’s Day to promote Ireland and to develop our trade and economic links to forge bilateral relationship and promoting Irish culture,” Reilly remarked.
“We do generally promote St. Patrick Day in a positive way in terms of economic goals, reaching out to Irish diaspora, promoting Ireland as the place to study, work and invest, to showcase Irish culture. Due to the pandemic in the past few years, we promoted our activities digitally on our www.ireland.ie hub which showcased Ireland as a place to visit, invest, trade, study and live. Our Embassies also held virtual St Patricks Day receptions online, which included Irish cultural performances, whether it was reading of Irish literature, music or dance – yes, with contemporary high-leveled performers,” Reilly stressed.
“Did I mention one of the short cultural performances we aired in our virtual reception in 2021 was from the was Oscar-nominated animated film “Wolfwalkers” from the Irish film studio, Cartoon Saloon?”
Just like the headline says it is about accentuating the visibility. Ireland has much to offer and rich cultural heritage, sustainable and healthy food to offer the world. Now the spotlight should shed this lovely land and let it rise to its fullest potential.
