Welcome to the May edition of our Competitive City Newsletter. This monthly newsletter is produced by Belfast City Council's Economic Development Unit.

It will keep you informed of our work in Belfast, including details of our various programmes, events, research and new publications.

Top stories

Exploring Exporting Programme
This new programme aims to help small businesses and social enterprises enter into new markets outside of Northern Ireland for the first time. Starts in May 2011.

Winners of the Belfast Business Awards 2011
The cream of the Belfast business world was recognised and rewarded at the hotly contested Belfast Business Awards held on 14 April 2011. View the winners

Business of Finance Programme
This programme aims to improve companies' financial competence and help participants approach and meet the requirements of external funders. It will start in June 2011 and includes a financial health check.

Free business events
Latest free events from the Belfast Entrepreneurs Network: Be Prepared: Protect Your Profits, Protect Your Business (12 May) and What Makes Successful People Successful? (16 June).

Titanic Belfast visitor attraction
Development at the Titanic Quarter is progressing. Find out about the new £97 million visitor attraction, Titanic Belfast. We've contributed £10 million to the project.

All our business tenders are available at www.belfastcity.gov.uk/tenders

All our business events and programmes are available at www.belfastcity.gov.uk/economicdevelopment

Spread the word about our Competitive City Newsletter to your friends and key contacts so that they too can benefit from the services offered and stay up to date with all the latest news and events straight from us.

We welcome any feedback on our newsletter to help us improve our service.