Links between Belleek and Ballyshannon are set to be strengthened through a new initiative of the Belleek Erne Partnership, which is comprised of Belleek and District Community Partnership and Erne Enterprise in Ballyshannon. The 'Strengthening Cross Border Communities' project is part-financed by the European Union through the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by the Cross Border Consortium. Belleek Erne Partnership was set up to address economic and social difficulties that are particular to the border regions. This new initiative originated from Focus Group meetings of the Belleek Erne Partnership Retail and Services Pilot Marketing Initiative, which successfully ran for two and a half years. It was felt that the next natural step of this project was to bring the concept of collaboration between Belleek and Ballyshannon to the wider community.