Co-operation to boost tourism and farming in all parts of Ireland could be a key driver to economic recovery, President Mary McAleese said today.
Mrs McAleese today addressed an audience at the annual Balmoral Show in Belfast which included Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew.
The show, organised by the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society, is the high point of Northern Ireland’s farming calendar and delegates at a special breakfast reception heard Mrs McAleese praise the continuing success of the sector.
“The farming communities north and south have long since developed a very fruitful culture of collaboration,” she said.
“In an era of global financial turmoil and distress with serious local consequences, and with volcanic plumes capriciously disrupting air links to this island, we need more than ever the friendship of our neighbours,” she said.
“For it is the close-to-home business and tourism opportunities which we are capable of creating and developing between us that offer us a realistic and achievable set of opportunities at this economically difficult juncture.”
She said the political structures that crossed the Border had allowed for important contacts between the two governments.
“This island, north and south, has a great opportunity to present a common face to the world as sharers of an island that is clean and green, a centre of excellence for agri-food and related industries, a place where the food chain from the farmers up is utterly credible, creative and wholesome,” said Mrs McAleese.
“With its reliance on indigenous raw materials and its strong export performance, there is no doubt that it can be a key driver of economic recovery.”
Ms Gildernew also told the event that the agri-food industry remained vital to the economy of Ireland.