Investment conference to showcase best of NI
Northern Ireland is to be showcased to American investors as an attractive location in which to do business at an investment conference in America this Autumn.
Details of the event were confirmed yesterday by the US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly following talks at the US State Department between him, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster.
The one day conference in Washington DC will bring together the leaders of some of the largest international companies already operating in Northern Ireland with potential investors and other partners.
A date for the event, which will be hosted by Mrs Clinton, will be finalised in the near future.
The US administration has said that the hosting of an economic conference dedicated to promoting investment in Northern Ireland and trade between the Province and America further underlines Mrs Clinton’s belief that economic investment is the best means to build on the political progress that has been made in Northern Ireland in recent weeks.
Confirmation of the event came as over a dozen Northern Ireland companies this week took part in a trade mission covering New York, Chicago and Washington DC, where among a range of events the Northern Ireland Bureau hosted a business breakfast to highlight the Province’s excellence as an investment location.
Speaking about the conference Mr Kelly said:
“We stated repeatedly in the last several months that if stability could be guaranteed in terms of the political institutions in Northern Ireland through the successful completion of negotiations on the devolution of policing and justice, then a great opportunity would exist for the region to move forward quickly with a range of initiatives in the area of economic investment.’’
In September of last year Mrs Clinton appointed Mr. Kelly to the role of Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland and in the intervening period several initiatives have started as part of that mission aimed at promoting the region, including the establishment of two dedicated business working groups drawn from multiple business sectors across the US and Northern Ireland. The Province has attracted more than 800 new jobs in the last six months from international companies including the announcement earlier this week by Massachusetts-based Q1 Labs to create up to 50 new jobs in software services in Belfast.
“We look forward to continuing our work in Northern Ireland and here in the United States to make sure that this conference yields significant results for the region and also provides another platform for showing that peace and prosperity do indeed go hand in hand”, added Mr Kelly.
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Weather for Belfast
Wednesday 15 February 2012
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