Volatile exchange rates pose the biggest threat to cross-Border business growth on the island of Ireland but they should not deter firms from exploring commercial opportunities, says one of the North's leading business figures.
Dr Harold Ennis, deputy chairman of IntertradeIreland, said many businesses North and South did not realise they had a ready-made market on their doorsteps and that companies could lose out on millions of pounds of business.
Dr Ennis was speaking at the launch of IntertradeIreland's first annual review in Newry, Co Armag, yesterday.
IntertradeIreland was set up by the Irish and British governments under the Belfast Agreement to promote trade and business development across Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Dr Ennis said the body had established important business relationships between key organisations North and South during its first 12 months. It aimed to stimulate trade between both parts of the island and help remove barriers to business growth in Northern Ireland and the Republic.
"This body has hit the ground running because we have got people from the North and South talking and that is an important first step. This helps create new relationships which lead to new business which in turn will create and safeguard jobs in both p arts of the island," Dr Ennis said.
The Cavan-born businessman, formerly chairman of Boxmore International and a non-executive director of Dunloe Ewart, Galen Holdings and Balcas, believes the body has strong business support, North and South.
"This is something that can deliver tangible benefits to both economies and it has the support of both governments," he added.
Dr Ennis said the business body was not anxious that its work or its future would be overshadowed by political uncertainty in Northern Ireland. "We at IntertradeIreland are not going to allow ourselves to be distracted by what is going on politically. There is sufficient business rationale to justify this organisation's existence and the benefits which have already flowed since it was established," he said.
The business body has carried out extensive research about attitudes to cross-Border trade.
According to IntertradeIreland the single largest barrier to cross border trade is a lack of market knowledge about the other part of the island. Dr Ennis said this was just one of the perceived barriers that the business body would address in the current year.
"There are many instances where firms have not ventured across the Border because they have allowed fact and fiction to become confused. We want to make sure that firms see the opportunities that exist and exploit them for both economies," he added.
