February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
New Hampshire is exploring its Irish business links.
The international trade resource center and the New Hampshire department of Cultural Resources are combining efforts to present the Irish Business and Cultural Symposium on March 9 in honor of visiting delegations from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The symposium will take place at the Center of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Institute of Art, both of which are located in Manchester.
The event begins at 2 p.m. with a general session: New Hampshire’s Ties With Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Following the general session, two breakout seminars will focus on business and culture.
The cultural forum will cover how to expand artistic exchanges across the border and benefit from the current relations between New Hampshire and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
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The business forum will provide an overview of New Hampshire’s business and trade opportunities in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
An exhibit hall will feature Irish products, jewelry, clothing and more.
Governor Jeanne Shaheen is the invited keynote speaker at a dinner that includes entertainment by the McGonagle School of Irish Dance and the Ancient Order of Hibernians Pipes and Drums.
Following the dinner, participants will travel to the New Hampshire Institute of Art to view paintings by contemporary Irish artists and the American premier of the play, Language Roulette, by acclaimed Belfast playwright Daragh Carville.
The symposium is a continuation of a series of highly successful trade missions and visits from delegations that began in the fall of 1997 when Governor Shaheen led a trade mission to Hampshire
County, England; London; Dublin; and Belfast.
Commissioner Van McLeod of the Department of Cultural Resources led a cultural trade mission to Ireland and Northern Ireland in June 1998 and, in the same month, a delegation of representatives from 30 Irish businesses and the chairman of the International. Fund for
Ireland visited New Hampshire.
Another business and trade mission returned this past fall to Belfast, Dublin and the border counties of Ireland and Northern
Ireland.
“Our relationship with Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is extremely important because Ireland is New Hampshire’s second largest trading partner,” Dawn Wivell, ITRC director said. “In 1997, New Hampshire’s exports to Ireland totaled more than $150
million, a 30 percent increase over 1996. Ireland has one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and that, combined with the absence of a language barrier and our large population of citizens of
Irish descent, provides New Hampshire companies with a
tremendous opportunity.”
For information about the symposium or to register, contact the International Trade Resource Center at (603) 334-6074.