Key talks on border between the two Irelands

LONDON: A crucial round of negotiations to try to resolve the issue of a post-Brexit border between Northern Ireland and the neighbouring Irish Republic are to be held tomorrow in Brussels, Britain’s Department for Exiting the European Union said.

The future of the 500km border between the two is one of the biggest unresolved issues as Theresa May’s government seeks to find a way of ensuring a frictionless border on the island of Ireland. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier will not be taking part in the new round of discussions. Instead, high-ranking negotiators from both sides will seek a way through the deadlock.

On Friday, the negotiations will switch to a proposed future relationship between Britain and the EU’s remaining 27 member states after next March. Meanwhile, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed the Irish Republic accounts for 27% of Northern Ireland’s international export trade.

The US accounted for 25%, making it Northern Ireland’s second biggest international export partner.

Northern Ireland’s biggest export across the border into Ireland was food and live animals, particularly dairy products, which represented 33% of total exports to the Irish Republic.

More than two-thirds of exporting businesses in Northern Ireland were small companies employing up to 49 workers. Commentators in Britain and Ireland have warned that a no-deal Brexit could have serious consequences for industries that have extensive cross-border supply chains.

Last month, May made her first visit to the Irish border since the 2016 Brexit referendum. She held talks with workers and business representatives from both sides of the border. During her two-day visit, May reaffirmed her commitment to a Brexit that avoids a hard border and protects the Belfast Agreement which brought to an end decades of conflict and troubles in Northern Ireland.

In a government white paper, Britain has ruled out any kind of hard border. “Daily journeys will continue to be seamless and there will be no checks or infrastructure at the border to get in the way of this,” said May. – Xinhua

PICTURE: VCG BORDERLINE: A man wearing a Boris Johnson mask has his British passport taken during a ‘Borders Against Brexit’ protest in Dundalk, Ireland.