The Naval patrol ship LE Niamh is en route to Hong Kong, following its arrival in Asian waters as part of a trade mission.

The mission, spearheaded by Enterprise Ireland, is the State's most ambitious to date and has already proved to be "very successful", according to Mr Peter Coyle, Enterprise Ireland's executive director with responsibility for trade in the region.

More than 600 "key decision-makers" with Irish and Asian affiliations attended two promotional events on the vessel when it berthed in Singapore last week.

"Our aim was to break the 'Iceland' factor," Mr Coyle said, referring to the need to increase Ireland's profile in the region.

A study undertaken by the Government's Asia Strategy Committee on long-term development of Irish trade in the region had identified the lack of knowledge about Ireland, which was and still is commonly confused with Iceland.

That study was carried out at a time when there was little more than a dozen Irish-owned businesses with offices in Asia, but now there are more than 100, Mr Coyle points out. Last year, some €560 million in goods was exported to the region by Irish-owned manufacturing firms.

The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, is due to travel to Hong Kong later this week to join the ship for St Patrick's Day celebrations, while a series of business events are scheduled to take place on board the vessel there next week.

The Irish Ambassador to Singapore, Mr Brendan Lyons, worked with Enterprise Ireland and the Naval Service on the programme for the first leg. Among the companies hosting events was Iona Technologies. The ship left Cork harbour last month and delivered supplies to Irish troops serving with the United Nations in Ethiopia and Eritrea en route.