British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is due to visit Northern Ireland this morning before he travels to Cork for the UK-Ireland summit with Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
Mr Starmer will meet political party leaders in Belfast before visiting a community centre.
He will spend under 24 hours in Cork, during which he will attend a meeting with the Taoiseach and senior Irish and British ministers tomorrow morning.
It is the second UK-Ireland summit, following an inaugural gathering in Liverpool last March.
At that stage, Mr Martin and Mr Starmer committed themselves to a programme of co-operation between the two countries, called UK-Ireland 2030.
The programme involves closer working relationships across trade, energy, maritime security, emergency planning and cultural connections.
This summit, over today and tomorrow, will take stock on progress to date, as well as setting further goals for the rest of the year and on to 2030.
Mr Starmer is due arrive in Cork with four of his senior cabinet ministers just before 5pm.
He will be met by the Taoiseach.
Together, they will meet business leaders at a round table event in the city centre in the evening, before hearing from members of the Ireland-UK Youth Forum and attending a civic and cultural reception later.
A two-hour plenary meeting, involving Mr Martin, Mr Starmer and senior Irish and British ministers, will take place tomorrow morning.
The UK is Ireland's second largest trading partner and over the past decade, annual bilateral trade has increased by 107% to €129 billion.
Ireland is the UK’s sixth largest trading partner, while Irish companies employ in the region of 150,000 people in the UK.
Speaking in Cork ahead of the summit, Mr Martin said the programme of co-operation agreed between the two leaders last year was now beginning to deliver.
"Today we will mark the progress on what has been achieved over the course of the past year and reaffirm our commitment to deepen and broaden further the co-operation, friendship and partnership between Ireland and the UK this year and out to 2030," Mr Martin said.
"This summit takes place against an uncertain global backdrop and will be an opportunity to take stock of international issues, including the concerning situation in the Middle East and Gulf Region, and in Ukraine. Each day we see how international events can impact also on our domestic ambitions and daily lives, as well as on global security.
"Over the course of the summit, we will discuss how we can strengthen competitiveness and resilience and reduce the cost of living, harness the potential of our shared seas, while protecting our marine environment, deliver essential infrastructure at pace and scale, and ensure energy affordability and energy security across Ireland and the UK," he added.
