Firms across the southeast are counting the benefits of a recent busy business trip to north Wales. The Business Bridge event was billed as a match-making opportunity to establish trade and networking links with Wales. Part of the InterComm Project, a scheme part-funded under the EU Interreg Programme, the event is managed jointly by the Wexford and Pembrokeshire Chambers of Commerce.
Several of the 35 diverse Irish companies involved came away from last weekend's trip having established strong links with Welsh firms. Kay Brophy, general manager of a Carlow aromatherapy product company called Always Natural, says the trip was very worthwhile.
"As a small company you wouldn't get the chance to travel to trade fairs or exhibit at large shows. This gave us the opportunity to meet people who might be interested in buying new products".
While in Pembrokeshire, she made contact with a ceramics producer with whom she hopes she will work on joint products in the future.
For Denis Doyle of Drover Meats the event was also productive. A manufacturer of frozen sausages, he has already arranged for a Welsh wholesaler to visit his Wexford plant with a view to supplying him in the future.
Since the first such two-day trip took place last March, the excursion has become a twice-yearly event. According to Rachel O'Dowd of the Wexford Chamber of Commerce, cultural as well as business links are forged.
The Business Bridge event is one of many initiatives that have recently sprung up between the south-east and north Wales. Similar industries in both areas and the ferry connection between Rosslare and Pembroke make the regions a perfect match on which both can expand and flourish.