A row has erupted tonight over the refusal of a DUP Assembly member to be photographed with a Sinn Féin member on an official trade delegation to the United States.
Mr Jim Wells, MLA for South Down, is part of a delegation who will be visiting a number of cities in the US and Canada in a bid to boost inward investment to Northern Ireland
But he is refusing to be included in official photographs because of the presence of Sinn Féin's Mr Pat Doherty, MP for West Tyrone.
Sources at Stormont have expressed anger at Mr Wells's stance.
"We are trying to show the sort of effort that is taking place to get new business and new markets. How do we highlight all these people working together for the good of Northern Ireland if Jim Wells won't get in the photographs?"
Mr Wells was unavailable for comment but a DUP spokesman said it was party policy not to associate with Sinn Féin.
As members of the Stormont Enterprise Committee, the pair are travelling with the Minister Sir Reg Empey, who has just returned from a trade mission to China.
Ten Northern Ireland companies are also taking part in the five day trip which will include Boston, Montreal, Toronto and New York.
Sir Reg will visit the headquarters two of Northern Ireland's biggest employers, Bombardier Aerospace in Montreal and Nortel in Toronto.
Both companies caused a shock when they announced they were shedding hundreds of jobs in the wake of September 11th. The redundancies impacted on the latest unemployment figures which showed the number of people out of work in the North going up for the first time in several years.
PA