AN Bord Trachtala/the Irish Trade Board (ABT), has decided to move two of its senior executives to new positions in the US and Asia as part of a restructuring of the organisation.

Yesterday, ABT announced that Mr John Corrigan, director of the industries and international services division, is moving to become the director of its US and South America region, while Mr Paddy Delaney, director of markets division, is to head up its operations in Asia.

A number of other executives are expected to also take up new positions overseas as part of a reorganisation of ABT's operations being implemented by the recently appointed chief executive, Mr Oliver Tattan.

Mr Tattan said yesterday that while a number of decisions still have to be made, he would like to shift ABT's resources to high growth potential markets in a bid to increase exports. "We are trying to focus on high growth markets and out of the corporate office. We have set an ambitious target of increasing indigenous exports to £8.2 billion by the year 2001 and need to shift our resources to achieve this," Mr Tattan said.

He expects that most of the reorganisation will be implemented by year end. Half of ABT's employees currently work overseas.

Mr Tattan said that while most of the growth in Irish exports will be in continental European markets, ABT is also aiming to win more business in rapidly growing markets, such as South America and throughout Asia.

The Trade Board has also moved to widen its consultations with Irish industry in the planning and implementation of marketing strategies and projects.