R.I. to host Ireland prime minister

PROVIDENCE – Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee will host Ireland Prime Minister Enda Kenny on Sept. 24, as part of an initiative to explore business and tourism opportunities between Rhode Island and Ireland.
“Recent economic indicators show that we are off to our best start in 30 years and companies want to do business in Rhode Island. We must look beyond our borders to the international community to remain competitive with our neighboring states,” Chafee said in a statement.
Kenny, who is visiting along with other Irish officials, is expected to attend a reception at the Statehouse and visit the Rhode Island Irish Famine Memorial.
Chafee, in a phone interview, said the prime minister will be in Rhode Island for four hours, and in that time, he wants to introduce him to as many people as possible, including company representatives, legislators and government officials.
Chafee noted that one of the reasons for his May visit to Ireland was to study air travel possibilities between T.F. Green and Ireland’s Shannon Airport and Ireland West Airport Knock.
Air travel between Ireland and Rhode Island is still in “the exploration phase,” he said. Both Irish airports are interested in connecting flights with the United States.
Chafee said he is not sure if it will be Kenny’s first visit to Rhode Island.
“It was great to be able to see him in Dublin,” said Chafee, adding he’s “very flattered” that the prime minister continues to be interested in studying business possibilities between Ireland and Rhode Island.
In May, Chafee also met with nine different companies in County Mayo, Ireland, and visited Greencore’s world headquarters in Dublin, as well as several firms in Italy.
That visit came shortly after Greencore Group PLC subsidiary, Greencore USA, a maker of convenience food products, signed a 50-year lease at Quonset Business Park to build a facility there that will employ nearly 400.
Chafee was accompanied on his trip to Ireland by Marcel Valois, executive director of the R.I. Commerce Corporation; GTECH Chairman Donald R. Sweitzer and R.I. Airport Corporation President and CEO Kelly Fredericks, who joined the other three in Ireland to pitch nonstop flights from Warwick’s T.F. Green Airport to Ireland.

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