A 10-year strategy to boost Waterford's sluggish economy is recommended in a report to be published this month.
The report, "Vision 2011 - Linking Waterford and its Partners", was commissioned by the Tβnaiste, Ms Harney, when she set up a task force to examine Waterford's economic difficulties last year.
The group, called Strategy Waterford, has completed its work and will present the 48-page report to Ms Harney in the city this month.
The task force was needed, said Ms Harney, because Waterford had not been as successful as Dublin, Cork, Limerick or Galway in attracting investment.
She said the city, which had a significant unemployment problem through the economic boom, had not been "prioritised enough" and was a location which should be doing better.
While the task force was asked specifically to examine Waterford's problems, its chairman, Mr Nicky Fewer, said considerable attention had been paid to the links between the city and the rest of the south-east.
"One of the issues that will be important going forward is the development of a united front within the region when it comes to lobbying central government," he said. "This is obviously one of the issues we will work at once the report is in the public domain.
"It needs to become very firmly established that what is good for our city is also very definitely good for a large swathe of our neighbouring counties. Waterford is identified as a gateway city in the National Spatial Strategy and it is this principle that we wish to progress with our partners to the benefit of the entire region."