Over 200 business delegates from across the island of Ireland attended a major cross-border conference on Tuesday 3rd March in the Carrickdale Hotel, focusing on the continuing theme of the conference ‘Building a Sustainable All-Island Economy’, hosted by Broadcaster and Journalist, Mark Simpson.
The conference was jointly hosted by Newry Chamber and Dundalk Chamber and proudly supported by InterTradeIreland, Louth County Council, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, Louth Local Enterprise Office, Dundalk Chamber Skillnet and M1 Corridor.
This year’s conference was addressed by NI Economy Minister, Caoimhe Archibald MLA and Niamh Smyth TD, Minister for State for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
This year marked the 11th edition of the annual conference organised by the two Chambers of Commerce in Newry and Dundalk and when this conference first began in 2015, cross-border trade was worth just over €5 billion. According to the most recent figures, this has now trebled to around €15 billion, this just signifies the growth and huge importance of cross-border trade.
With Newry and Dundalk at the very centre of the Dublin Belfast Economic Corridor, cross-border cooperation is at the very core of economic success North & South and this was on full display and reiterated throughout the day.
The headline news from the conference was the major announcement of a strategic partnership between Queen’s University Belfast and Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) which is a real game-changer for the region, representing a new model within the Irish higher education landscape and will help:
- Retain talent by reducing the number of people leaving the island for education
- Enhance research and innovation on our campus in Dundalk supporting regional development
- Offer opportunity for Shared Island initiative
- Help to build bridges within communities in North and South
The packed conference programme featured 20+ expert speakers from both sides of the border from the worlds of government, business and academia with a mix of presentations, panel discussions and interactive roundtable discussions on the day centred around the three key themes of the conference:
- The All-Island Economy
- Skills & People: A Cross-Border Partnership Approach
- Collaboration & Infrastructure at the Heart of the All-Island Economy
Caoimhe Archibald MLA, Minster for the Economy said:
“This conference meets at a time of great flux in the world and all‑island collaboration is one of the most powerful tools we have for building our economic resilience. Cross‑border trade alone is now worth almost €15 billion. All-Island trade is thriving.”
“81% of these companies trading across the border are SMEs and the evidence clearly demonstrates that SMEs engaging in cross-border trade consistently outperform others, across key metrics such as sales, employment and profitability. Innovation and collaboration across the island also strengthen industry clusters, create higher-quality jobs, and enhance sector competitiveness.”
“I welcomed the opportunity to address this cross-border conference and reiterate my commitment to ongoing co-operation and collaboration to realise the opportunities the all-island economy offers.”
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.”
“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.”
Hanna McDonnell, President of Dundalk Chamber of Commerce said:
“This conference has been a beacon for the promotion of cross-border trade for many years and our partnership with Newry Chamber continues to flourish and set an example of how collaboration can bring benefits to both sides of the border.”
“The aim of the conference is to promote Building a Sustainable All-Ireland Economy and our speakers and panellists demonstrated how this can be done and what challenges we need to meet along the way. There is so much economic potential across this island and we all need to play our part in grasping those opportunities that are here, right now and those coming down the line.”