The British and Irish Governments have joined together to make a submission to next week's EU Lisbon summit. The summit will focus on enterprise, the Internet and social inclusion, and the joint paper highlights issues such as targets for access by schoolchildren to the Internet and lifelong learning.

The two Governments welcome the Portuguese call for a 10-year reform strategy "to make the EU the world's most dynamic and competitive area based on innovation and knowledge with more and better jobs and better social cohesion".

The paper calls for a charter for small businesses to set out how member states and the EU can help enterprise through lighter regulation and easier access to venture capital and technology. Both governments will support the development of a "European Research Area".

They argue for the mainstreaming of social inclusion in education, training and employment programmes and targeted programmes to address particular problems of exclusion with a particular emphasis on child poverty.

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, in a statement in New York also welcomed the news that, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Ireland is now the world's number one exporter of software. Noting that the report refers to Ireland as "an example of the success of national policies aimed at developing a world class high-tech industry", he said "this is a very welcome endorsement of the good news story we will be bringing to Lisbon".