The complications of history between Ireland and Britain have begun to mature into a "collegial and respectful friendship", the President, Mrs McAleese, said yesterday.
She was addressing members of the North-East Chamber of Commerce at a lunch in Newcastle, England, where she discussed the economic importance of trade ties between Ireland and the UK.
In her speech, Mrs McAleese said: "We belong to a very fortunate generation, for the complications of history which have so often in the past bedevilled relationships between Ireland and its closest neighbour have begun to mature into a collegial and respectful relationship.
"The robustness of that relationship has been tested through the many ups and downs of the peace process, and like the process itself, it has time and again proved to be remarkably strong and enduring," she said.
The President went on to say that 30 years of working together in Europe had helped to "straighten out some of history's tangles", but that political co-operation was always made easier when economic relations were mutually advantageous.
Ireland's low corporate tax rate of 12.5 per cent was proffered by Mrs McAleese as an incentive "due to last well into the future".
Quoting statistics such as Ireland being the seventh-largest source of inward investment projects into Britain, and ranking fifth in terms of jobs, ahead of countries such as Japan, Italy and Australia, the President said they demonstrated the dynamism and innovation which had come to characterise both the British and Irish corporate sectors.
It was encouraging that both Newcastle and Dublin were among the hubs being established throughout Europe in the field of nanotechnology.