Taoiseach Brian Cowen continues his trip to the US today, meeting technology entrepreneurs in California’s Silicon Valley.
This morning, Mr Cowen will meet senior executives from leading US multinational companies with successful investments in Ireland.
He will then meet Irish businesses who are successfully doing business in the United States, before addressing a major business lunch in Silicon Valley.
A spokesman said he will focus on the Government's economic recovery plan, with a particular emphasis on the smart economy and the implementation of the report of the Government's Innovation Taskforce.
He will also stress the firm action that has been taken to stabilise the public finances, reduce the deficit and restore and reform the banking system.
He is also due to hold talks with the president of Stanford University, Dr John Hennessy. Stanford is one of the leading universities in the world with a global reputation for science, research and innovation.
Later, the Taoiseach will open a new Irish Innovation Centre in Silicon Valley.
The Taoiseach will fly to Washington tonight for a series of political and economic engagements. It is expected economic issues will dominate his 40-minute meeting with US president Barack Obama at the White House on St Patrick’s Day. Mr Cowen is also expected to update Mr Obama on the latest developments in the North.
Speaking to reporters in Chicago at the weekend, the Taoiseach played down suggestions that the president was planning to come to Ireland in the near future, saying there was “no official indication” that a visit was in the offing.
“He’s very conscious of his Irish heritage,” Mr Cowen said. “He has an open invitation – a standing invitation to visit Ireland whenever it’s convenient. He has many responsibilities and issues to deal with, both domestically and abroad, and we Irish understand that and if, at any time, he can call to visit his ancestral home, he would be more than welcome.”
Mr Obama has a connection through his forebears with Moneygall, Co Offaly, in the Taoiseach’s constituency.
In the course of a speech at an Irish-American dinner at the weekend, the Taoiseach said that, since his previous visit to Chicago in 2007, the city had “become renowned around the world as the home town of your president”.
“His victory was an inspirational moment in the history of the world and I look forward to seeing him again for the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in the White House,” Mr Cowen told the Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago.
