Irish business should view the proposed enlargement of the European Union as a trading opportunity rather than a threat to prosperity, according to a newly published Forfás submission to the National Forum on Europe.

The Forfás paper argues that the accession of 10 Central and Eastern European states, a process that could be complete by 2004, will present a particular boost to Irish goods and services companies that are ready to invest in or trade with the candidate states.

Irish trade with the enlargement applicant countries grew by almost 900 per cent between 1994 and 2000, when it reached levels of more than €1 billion.

This will be further increased by enlargement, the paper says, and should help to balance against falling levels of EU structural fund contributions to the Republic's exchequer.

Enlargement will also provide benefits for the Republic's labour market, according to the Forfás submission.

The submission argues that this increased competitiveness means that the Republic must concentrate more closely on projecting itself as a "knowledge-based" economy if it wants to continue to win high levels of international investment.

This policy should be accompanied by increased participation in the "initiation, evolution and shaping of EU policies", Forfás says.

The National Forum on Europe was launched last October in the wake of the No result in the Nice Treaty referendum. The Forum is designed to raise awareness and understanding of the issues surrounding EU enlargement and the future of the Union as a whole.