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Henry McLeish welcomes launch of Scottish-Irish business forum
11/11/1999
The Scottish-Irish Business Forum, launched in Edinburgh today, is being welcomed by Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, Henry McLeish.
The Forum, launched by Mr McLeish and Irish Deputy Prime Minister, Mary Harney, is a group of mainly private sector organisations that has been established to promote two-way trade between Scotland and Ireland.
The Forum will also facilitate links between Scottish and Irish companies, North and South of the Border and encourage co-operation in industry, agriculture and tourism.
Mr McLeish said:
"This is a unique and very exciting initiative. It is principally private sector led and driven but I welcome its introduction as a forum to discuss ideas and initiatives that come out of two countries with so much shared heritage.
"This Forum can provide an excellent complement to the considerable efforts being made at Government level to promote greater understanding and co-operation between our respective countries and I hope it will provide fresh impetus to the development of commercial and business ties between Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
"The Scottish Executive is committed to supporting businesses in Scotland and helping to provide the best conditions for them to thrive and compete on an equal footing with the best in the world. In our Programme for Government we pledged to help create 100,000 new Scottish businesses by 2009, initiate a Scottish Labour Market Unit by the end of 1999 to highlight the skills that Scotland needs and create 20,000 Modern Apprenticeships by 2003.
"The Scottish-Irish Business Forum is another initiative that can benefit Scottish business and I am delighted to be able to give the Executive's backing to it here today."
BACKGROUND
The Forum is chaired by Sir John Arbuthnott, Principal of Strathclyde University and counts among its leading members the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, the CBI Scotland, the Federation of Small Businesses, CBI Northern Ireland, Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Bank. The principal Government Trade Promotion and Development organisations in Scotland and the Irish Republic, Scottish Trade International and Enterprise Ireland are also members.
News Release: SE1257/1999
11 Nov 1999