As soon as Mr Vagn Srensen became head of SAS for Europe in 1993, he increased the number of flights between Dublin and Scandinavia. He took the view that the Irish market was underdeveloped, that while it had always been good for tourism, the business end of things had been overlooked.

Now, he sees opportunities for Irish trade not just with Scandinavia, but with the Baltics. Next Tuesday, alongside Mr Peter Wallenberg, the 37year-old Dane will address the conference on business with the Baltic region. He is enthusiastic about the development of the former Soviet-bloc Baltic nations - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland - plus the city of St Petersberg.

"We regard the entire Baltic area as an extended home market for SAS," he says. "Scandinavia is the natural entrance port to the Baltics, there are strong cultural and economic ties since way back with these countries."

He admits that he is coming to Dublin to drum up business for the airline, but stresses that this is a long-term plan. SAS has invested now, he says, making Copenhagen a hub for onward traffic to Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, Kaliningrad and Gdansk, but knows that it will be some time before it really pays off.

"I would say they are still pretty far away from where Western Europe is at, at least 10 years, maybe 20. But these countries are developing rapidly. Take Poland - it is developing faster than any other country in Europe."

He plans to tell the Dublin conference next week that the sooner Irish business people get in to the Baltic markets, the better. "These strategies never go as smoothly as you would think. There are tremendous opportunities, but you have to be there now."