Friday, February 6, 2009

Irish Construction professionals seek Russian Olympic construction job opportunities

In 2007, China was the coffee shop of Irish business (In Beijing you couldn’t turn a corner without bumping into someone from Ireland looking for a business opportunity). In 2008, the UAE and Saudi Arabia came in to focus, and numerous construction professionals took advantage of good value long haul flights to seek out opportunities in the Middle East. But in 2009 it may be Russia that becomes the next haunt of the somewhat smaller army of Irish developers, architects and engineers who are looking for the next big deal. And there is still plenty of business to be done.

Enterprise Ireland (EI) has become the advance guard of Irish industry, looking to build sustainable business relationships for Irish firms on foreign soils and sands. EI recently brought a group of Irish architects and engineers on trips to Saudi Arabia and Russia.

The delegation of Irish engineers and architects that traveled to Russia visited the little known resort of Sochi, in Southern Russia, which will host the Winter Olympics in 2014. There is after all €2.2bn in deals up for grabs in Sochi.

The group that traveled to Saudi Arabia was looking at ways to get involved in Saudi Arabia’s Grand Designs including an environmental city.

EI, in conjunction with the Construction Industry Federation (CIF), the Royal Institute of Architects Ireland (RIAI) and Engineers Ireland has embarked on a number of “Leadership for Growth” programmes aimed at exporting the expertise garnered by Irish construction firms, Irish architects and Irish engineers in the past few years.

EI says nearly 100 company executives are completing the Enterprise Ireland’s international selling programme, which is made up of eight training modules.

See also Exporting the Tiger


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