It gives me great pleasure to be here in Monaghan this afternoon to officially launch the Strategic Plan for the Digital Technology Corridor for Counties Armagh and Monaghan. This is an unique project as it involves the development agencies, the local authorities, the educational institutions and community group's, both north and south of the border. I wish to take this opportunity to thank all of the various parties involved for their commitment, dedication and vision in bringing this strategy to fruition.

As a vote of confidence by the Irish Government in this dynamic and exciting cross border project, I am pleased to announce that I have secured an allocation of £200,000 for the Monaghan Enterprise Board to enable this investment to proceed. I trust that it will act as a spur for agencies and other interests to join in the financing of this venture.

The development of a digital corridor linking NI and the ROI, with Armagh and Monaghan becoming hub locations within this corridor, is the driving ambition of the project promoters.

A strategy to provide a technology focused infrastructure and a pool of skilled labour in the under developed border regions of Armagh and Monaghan underpins this vision, and this project is seen as a critical first step towards achieving this longer term goal. The strategy sees Armagh and Monaghan overcoming disadvantages that have limited the size of their respective manufacturing sectors by embracing the new technology driven service industries that have spurred the Celtic Tiger economy in the Republic of Ireland.

Global trends in telecommunications and software development are driving this change in the way business is performed. The emergence of a digital economy is opening up business development opportunities for previously remote regions. Many traditional industries are changing the way in which they do business. New service industries are being created in which geography is no longer a major influence on global investment strategy but rather cost effective access to telecommunications technology and a ready supply of suitably skilled resources.

In the new age of electronic business, telecommunications networks will allow suitably trained personnel based in Armagh and Monaghan to provide many services to national and international customers in any location at any time and in any language.

The technology focused employment opportunities are many and varied and cross a spectrum of skill levels making it feasible to create jobs for the highly skilled and also for those who with basic training can quickly become productive and earn a living perhaps for the first time.

Even at this early stage, discussions with several technology based companies that have expressed an interest in the concept and the proposed location, are taking place.

Major political change and information technology initiatives at European and national Government levels in both the United Kingdom and Republic Of Ireland suggest that the time is right for Armagh and Monaghan to build a digital capability in the border regions that will drive local economic development in the high growth tradable services sectors.

A number of factors encourage this belief as follows:

• cross border co-operation is very appropriate at the present time. Political agreement and developing local government structures will encourage mutually beneficial arrangements in the under-developed parts of both Northern Ireland and the Republic Of Ireland border counties. Business, community and political representatives on both sides of the border now see significant benefit from co-operation rather than competition;
• on a broader front the European Commission through, the Regional Information Society Initiative (RISI), is actively promoting much greater use of technology in the remoter, less well developed parts of Europe; n the United Kingdom (UK) Government in a recent white paper actively promoted the widespread use of technology in the "knowledge driven economy" at national, regional and local levels; and
• the Republic Of Ireland, through the establishment of the Advisory Committee on Telecommunications (ACT) has the clearly set goal of becoming a world leader in the information and communications era and is actively looking to spread the benefits the Celtic Tiger beyond Dublin and its hinterland.

There are a number of immediate tradable service sectors of interest to the promoters that could utilise a hi-tech workspace facility. Recent trends in the Republic Of Ireland and Northern Ireland would suggest that call centres, telemarketing operations, facilities management, Internet, electronic commerce and back office services offer significant prospects for inward investment projects that can generate sizeable employment opportunities

This leads me on to the whole realm of E-commerce and associated opportunities. The expansion of the Internet as a channel for business is driving this change in the way business is now conducted and is opening up new opportunities for economic development to those countries and regions geared up for the change. A few statistics highlight the market potential:

• traffic on the Internet is doubling every 100 days;
• in 1993, the Internet had three million users today it has more than one hundred million users;
• business to business e-commerce is forecast to grow from $15 billion in 1997 to more than $400 billion by 2002;
• global web revenue estimated at $75 million in 1998 will grow to $1,234 million by 2002.

The revolution in telecommunication inter-action and its impact on business offers Armagh and Monaghan immediate economic development opportunities. The fundamental change occurring now and the pace of that change will create new technology focused business and new ways to service the global economy's customers. The location of the service providers can be anywhere that can provides suitable hi-tech workspace, access to state of the art telecommunications and reliable, well trained and cost effective employees.

The United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland have already seen significant economic expansion as a result of this major change in the way business is now delivered as is clearly demonstrated by the massive growth of the telecommunications and software services sectors. The technology based development options for Armagh and Monaghan will focus on these new hi-tech solutions to create new businesses and will apply the technology to improve the efficiency and market reach of existing indigenous business expertise.

Immediate opportunities are most evident in the call centre, e-commerce and software development service sectors and it is from these sectors that tenants for the hi-tech workshops will be sourced.

Finally may I congratulate all parties concerned both north and south for their forward vision and I am delighted to confirm that the IDA have agreed to provide a site to assist the Monaghan County Enterprise Board to develop this project.

May I wish you well in your endeavours and conclude by formally launching this Digital strategy, which is certain to bring major benefits to the border regions, north and south.