TOTSIENS! Or, to translate from Afrikaans, it's farewell to Irene Waudby, the Lord Mayor of York who flies the famous South African flag before jetting off there next week.

She will be joining other British Lord Mayors as a guest of South African Tourism and as part of a trade, tourism and cultural mission which will take her on a tour of the Rainbow Nation, visiting Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Stellenbosch where she will meet first citizens of those cities.

And to prove just how close are the links already between our two countries, joining her a bit of flag-waving on the steps of Mansion House, York, were South African business couple Mike and Mimika Cooney.

With the help and encouragement of the York Inward Investment Board they set up a UK outpost in Clifton Moor for EngNet, an on-line directory or portal designed by engineers for engineers.

Now they are rapidly expanding their Jo'burg-based venture which is the most visited engineering website in Southern Africa, with a database of 2,500 listed companies seeking specialised engineering equipment and services.

With 40,000 page impression a month, EngNet, which stands for Engineering Network, has been shortlisted in the Dubai Internet City E-Business Challenge.

Which all goes to prove that there are two-way advantages...

Updated: 08:20 Friday, January 25, 2002