A digital ‘one stop shop’, the new hub provides companies with direct access to the latest trade information to help them benefit from the growing estimated annual £10.4bn cross-border trade opportunity. It supplies free advice and support to help businesses trade efficiently, saving both time and money. If required, businesses will also be able to avail of specialist technical support of up to £2,000/€2,300.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney TD, addressing over 200 delegates at the conference, highlighted growing cross-border trade opportunities, while also pointing out that trading across the border often leads to exporting further afield.
Attendees also heard from Dr Vincent Power SC, widely recognised as Ireland’s most experienced EU competition lawyer; Dr Loretta O'Sullivan, Chief Economist at EY Ireland; as well as successful businesses including Exact Group from Newry and Howard Farms from Cork who shared their experiences of achieving successful cross-border growth with the support of InterTradeIreland.
Speaking at the conference, InterTradeIreland’s CEO Margaret Hearty said:
“We are delighted to announce the launch of our new Cross-Border Trade Hub, a vital resource for businesses looking to trade across the island of Ireland. Built on almost 25 years’ of InterTradeIreland’s experience of providing impartial advice, support, and leadership to SMEs, our new cross-border trade hub provides free, independent and specialist advice tailored to the needs of businesses, with direct access to the answers they need to navigate the critical issues and questions facing them today.”
“Cross-Border Trade is going from strength to strength and our research shows that three quarters of businesses who sell cross-border go on to sell off-island – it’s a stepping stone to global export markets. We also know that in our most recent survey, 86% of businesses who don’t export, said they’d consider developing cross-border sales and more than half of them were interested in accessing support to help them. Whatever challenges businesses might face when trying to trade cross-border, innovate and grow, InterTradeIreland will be with them every step of the way.”
The event, hosted by former RTÉ journalist Tommie Gorman, also offered businesses the opportunity to meet one-to-one with specialist business mentors to receive free advice on areas including Regulation, Employment, Customs and VAT.
Commenting on the launch, Richard Kennedy, Chairman of InterTradeIreland said,
“Trade, collaboration, and innovation is at the core of everything we do to help SMEs achieve economic growth and success. InterTradeIreland continues to play its role in understanding the changing economic climate and policy implications and uses our insights to inform and guide business.”
“We will be holding two further events in 2023 - these are the start of a series of regional workshops. The first will take place in Portlaoise on the 17th of October and the second in Derry/Londonderry on the 22nd
of November. These events will help businesses navigate the changing market conditions on the island and promote the emerging cross-border trade opportunities.”
To find out more about the cross-border opportunities available to businesses on the island of Ireland and advice on how to navigate the key areas of customs, VAT, regulation, and cross-border employment visit www.intertradeireland.com/CrossBorderTradeHub
