At the launch of its annual report on Irish export showing 3% growth in 2015, Bord Bia announced that it would open new overseas offices this year.

"We are opening an office in Singapore by Christmas to complement our presence in China," said chief executive Aidan Cotter, adding that the agency would also establish a presence in Warsaw, Poland.

"There is a shift in economic power to the east and the south," Cotter said, referencing the rise of the Asian middle class.

Listen to an interview with Aidan Cotter in our podcast below:

Singapore is a major trading hub at the centre of southeast Asia, while Warsaw will be a base to develop exports to eastern Europe.

"Eastern European countries have become more integrated into the European Union and incomes there are rising," Padraig Brennan, Bord Bia's newly appointed director of markets, told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Bord Bia is also considering opening an office in Africa. "I want to see a Bord Bia office in Africa and there will be one in time," Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said. He added that Sub-Saharan Africa would see a doubling of its population in the next 35 years and promised funding for the deployment.

Asked by the Irish Farmers Journal about the cost efficiency of overseas offices, Cotter said they were often one-person operations based in existing Irish embassies and delivered much-Singaporeneeded presence on the ground at a low cost.

Brennan added that, beyond the promotion of Irish food abroad, they were also the "eyes and ears of Irish exporters" overseas to gather intelligence on competitors.

With Poland's rise on European beef markets, the Warsaw office will have much to offer in this area.

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