Northern firms prepare for Pittsburgh

UP TO 50 Irish firms will be travelling to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania this weekend in a bid to win joint venture partners in the US. The Pittsburgh conference follows the Washington Conference of 18 months ago and is designed to persuade more US companies to contribute to the peace process and invest here.

The Washington conference, while widely acclaimed as extremely successful, had a more political than business emphasis. Pittsburgh, next week, will focus sharply on business links.

The central issue at next week's conference will be the matching of businesses from both sides of the border with potential US partners in the fields of information technology, environmental and health technology, the food industry and the tourism sector.

The conference is the latest in a series of initiatives from the US, designed to enhance US/Irish business links. After Washington, two business development missions, were held in Northern Ireland in October 1995 and June this year.

Senator George Mitchell, who is the chairman of the inter party talks currently underway in Belfast, will open the Pittsburgh event on Sunday evening next. The secretary at the US Department of Commerce, Mr Mickey Kantor, will also give the keynote address while Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Spring and Minister for Trade and Tourism, Mr Kenny will lead the Irish delegation.

Senior Irish business representatives based in the US including Heinz chairman Dr Tony O'Reilly will also attend.

Mr Kantor is promoting the event as a good way to create American jobs while simultaneously serving the cause of peace in Northern Ireland.

The central function of the three day conference will be a match making service where the Irish companies will be paired with US companies in similar sectors or with common interests.

Mr Jim Mongey of the Irish Trade Board says the range of possible business deals is very wide. "It could be Irish companies manufacturing US products under licence for sale across the EU, or Irish companies linking up with US counterparts to sell across the US, or simple distribution arrangements or licensing agreements," he said.

Agreements and joint ventures between the companies on both sides of the border are not ruled out, says Mr Mongey. The trade boards on both sides of the border have been working together more closely than ever on the whole programme, he adds.

Besides Irish companies from the north and border counties, many state agencies will also participate in next weeks conference.

In addition to the business of the conference, The International Fund for Ireland is expected to announce a special commemoration of former US commerce secretary Mr Ron Brown and undersecretary Mr Chuck Meissner who died in a plane crash earlier this year. Mr Brown is remembered by all the Irish delegates at the Washington conference for his passionate belief in American business doing its best to help the peace process in Ireland.

However, all organisers are agreed that the political will to promote peace through business has not diminished under Mr Kantor. But this time around, the focus will be much more clearly on Irish business.

Mr Gerry Morrissey at the Trade Board in New York says the profile Irish business won at the Washington conference cannot be underestimated. "When you have the top three people in the US administration standing up on the same day, urging companies to invest in Ireland it has to be excellent news."

The companies travelling to the US range from dairy giants such as Dairygold and Donegal Creameries to small software houses.

Other companies which will be travelling include Compact Media Products, a Drogheda based software company, Container and Pressure Vessels from Clones in Co Monaghan which manufacturers transportation tanks for hazardous chemicals.

Europlast from Letterkenny which is involved with specialist plastic packaging and Mallon Technology, Dundalk which is involved in environmental project engineering will also be travelling.