Georgia governor Sonny Perdue will lead a two-day trade mission to Ireland on Monday, in a visit that reflects Ireland's growing economic links with the southern US state.

Mr Perdue will meet Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and other political leaders during the visit. He will also travel to Belfast.

The governor will be honoured at a reception hosted by Georgia Tech Ireland - Georgia Institute of Technology's first applied research facility outside the US.

Based in Athlone and partly supported by IDA Ireland, the organisation will foster collaboration with Irish universities and industry in commercialising academic research.

The Georgia delegation includes executives from commercial real-estate firms, a large industrial development company, executive recruitment firms, an advertising agency and electricity providers, as well as prominent state officials, including the head of Georgia's economic development agency.

They will be scouting for business opportunities in Ireland, while also trying to lure Irish companies to Georgia, the economic hub of the southeastern US. Georgia's exports to Ireland exceeded $162 million (€121 million) in 2006, making the country Georgia's 12th-biggest export market.

The trade mission builds on established business relationships between the two places.

Georgia companies such as Coca-Cola, UPS, Georgia-Pacific, Nova Information Systems and Equifax have significant investments in Ireland.

On the Irish side, companies with a presence in Georgia include Elan Pharmaceuticals, which has had a drug development presence in Gainesville since 1982.

Oldcastle, the North American arm of CRH, has its headquarters in Atlanta. Western Plastics, Datalex Communications and AIB also have operations in the state.

In addition, two Northern Irish companies, Ulster Carpet Mills and Lowe Refrigeration, have subsidiaries in Georgia.

A key selling point for the Georgia delegation is the size of their market. The Atlanta metropolitan area is the fastest growing in the country, census data show.

Between April 1st, 2000, and July 1st, 2006, the region's population grew 21 per cent to 5.1 million, making Atlanta the ninth-largest metropolitan area in the US. Population is projected to increase by 65 per cent between 2000 and 2030.

White-collar sectors such as logistics, real estate, financial services, information technology, health care and biotechnology are significant and growing areas.

Promoters also cite Atlanta's role as a transportation hub. It boasts the world's second-busiest airport and has major road and rail networks. To the south, the port of Savannah ranks fourth in the US in handling foreign container traffic.

Mike Fitzgerald, of Fitzgerald Land Company, who is travelling with the delegation, is targeting Irish investors looking to capitalise on that growth by buying residential property in the state.

"I want to encourage them to look at Atlanta as a viable investment opportunity," Mr Fitzgerald said. "Our property values continue to appreciate at rates that outstrip New York."

Still, the business of building relationships is a "hunt-and-peck" process, according to James B Gaffey, another member of the delegation.

Mr Gaffey, who is of Irish descent, has arranged a number of trade missions between Ireland and Georgia.

Cultural ties between Ireland and Georgia date back to the 1700s. The influence of the Scots-Irish is still evident, as is that of the Irish Catholics, who later settled in the state.

Emory University in Atlanta houses a WB Yeats collection, which includes the poet's correspondence with Lady Gregory and Maud Gonne, as well as a Seamus Heaney archive and works by contemporary poets.

Ireland's approach to development won praise from Lawrence Patrick Callahan, who heads Pattillo Construction Company, the largest private industrial developer in the south-eastern US.

"Ireland is a case study in properly managed economic development," Mr Callahan said.

"There's much to learn from studying how they targeted their desire to create jobs, structured their educational system, adjusted their tax structure to attract investment, and then went out and recruited the companies they wanted."