The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has urged the Irish business community to look beyond its traditional ties to Europe and the US and embrace the unknown - by engaging with the emerging Asian economies that account for a quarter of global GDP.
With merchandise sales to the Far East increasing by 140 per cent to €9 billion from €3.8 billion over the past four years, Asia accounts for a 10th of exports, the Taoiseach told a meeting of the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland.
If the Republic wishes to further develop its links with Asia, the Taoiseach said, it must answer a fundamental question: how to better promote enterprise, jobs and the national interest?
Mr Ahern said: "There is no doubt that promoting our interests and economy is a job that gets tougher, not easier, over time.
"As a result of globalisation, our open economy feels the direct impact of developments in the market place more speedily and more completely than it ever did before," he said.
"This has several consequences - for example it means that drifts in price and wage competitiveness will be quickly punished.
"Another consequence is that the old distinctions between domestic and foreign policy are breaking down. In the most open economy in the world, foreign policy is as central to the national interest, to jobs and to national development as any other area of policy," Mr Ahern added.
Irish companies are beginning to appreciate Asia's potential. Four years ago, 28 firms posted representatives to the Far East. By 2001, this figure had climbed to 110, he said.
Asian investors are, in turn, looking to Ireland. Inward investment has held firm at 5 per cent annually - a heartening figure in light of the deepening fault lines running through Japan, one of the regions most powerful economies," Mr Ahern added.
