The Irish Spirits Association (ISA) yesterday, Sunday (10 March) hosted the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC) ahead of the Ireland vs France Six Nations match in Dublin.
The French delegation included Lionel Lalagüe, the director of Public and International Affairs at BNIC; and Noélie Genevy, public affairs manager at Moët Hennessy.
BNIC acts as the representative body for the cognac producers across France.
'Forging Stronger Relationships'
In a statement, the group that represents the drink industry in Ireland said the event was 'part of its drive to forge stronger relationships across Europe post-Brexit'.
“Post-Brexit, cognac, Irish whiskey and Irish cream will be the EU’s three largest spirit export categories," Aoife Clarke, chair of the ISA said.
"As a result, the ISA has sought to forge closer working relationships with other EU category associations to ensure common interests remain high on the agenda of the EU Commission.”
Of the most profitable spirits categories of 2017 for exports whiskey was worth €4.5 billion, Cognac €3.2 billion and liqueurs was valued at €1 billion, according to the ISA.
The value of Irish spirits exports increased by 13.8% to €916 million in 2017.
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