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Newry Chamber of Commerce and Dundalk Chamber of Commerce saw over 200 people attend their 11th annual Cross Border Trade and Economic Conference at the Carrickdale Hotel last Tuesday, 3 March. Cross-border trade now stands at around €15 billion, three times the trade when the conference first began in 2015.
and Damien McConville, Programme Manager, Dublin Belfast Economic Corridor
who spoke as part of the panel discussion on Infrastructure & Collaboration.
The conference focused on the continuing theme of Building a Sustainable All-Island Economy and was supported by InterTradeIreland, Louth County Council, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, Louth Local Enterprise Office, Dundalk Chamber Skillnet and M1 Corridor. Broadcaster and journalist Mark Simpson hosted the event.
Speakers included NI Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald MLA and Minister of State for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Niamh Smyth TD, with delegates from both sides of the border representing government, business and academia.
The headline announcement on the day was a new strategic partnership between Queen's University Belfast and Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT), described as a significant development for the region and a new model within the Irish higher education landscape. The partnership is intended to help retain talent on the island, enhance research and innovation at the Dundalk campus, support regional development and contribute to the Shared Island initiative.
addressing the conference.
Dr Conor Patterson, President of Newry Chamber commented: “The conference was a huge success with such a varied range of speakers across so many areas of specialism and levels of expertise, and I would like to thank everyone who contributed to what was an excellent event. We have a fantastic working relationship with our partners in Dundalk Chamber and both our Chambers have led the way for many years on driving cross-border trade.”
“We are now entering a time of huge economic opportunity in the North with many businesses in the Greater Newry Area actively trading on a North-South basis at scale never been seen before which is reflected in the trebling in the value of Cross-Border trade from €5 billion to around €15 billion over the past decade.”
Chamber, Caoimhe Archibald MLA, Minister for the Economy, Niamh Smyth TD,
Minister of State for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Hanna McDonnell,
President, Dundalk Chamber and Michael Savage, CEO, Newry Chamber.
“The conference highlighted those opportunities as well as the challenges that we face in our region, but it also provided our 200+ delegates plenty of information and insight to take back to their businesses.”
With Newry and Dundalk positioned at the centre of the Dublin-Belfast Economic Corridor, cross-border cooperation formed the central thread of the day's discussions. The packed programme featured more than 20 expert speakers and a mix of presentations, panel discussions and interactive roundtable sessions, structured around three key themes: the all-island economy; skills and people through a cross-border partnership approach and collaboration and infrastructure at the heart of the all-island economy.
