Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is in the Middle East today as part of a trade mission to encourage export links between Irish companies and business leaders across Arabian Gulf states.
Mr Ahern is leading a trade mission of 170 employers from 114 firms to Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Mr Ahern is expected to make a keynote address on the Middle East situation this evening.
The expedition has been organised by Enterprise Ireland as part of a drive to increase exports to the region by €3 billion by the end of 2007. Some 20 companies from Northern Ireland are represented on the mission.
The Taoiseach is being accompanied by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin; the Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin; and the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan.
Today, Mr Ahern will give a speech on the political situation in the Middle East, and Ireland's position on the issues, when he addresses the King Faisal Foundation in Riyadh.
He will also pay a courtesy call on Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz, the governor of Riyadh, and one of the most significant political figures in the Saudi kingdom.
Later, he will open a new office in the Saudi capital for Vilicom, a mobile telecommunications engineering company, before hosting a reception for some of the 1,000 Irish expatriates living in the country.