Invest NI says Windsor Framework has resulted in increased interest from investors - but can't disclose 'commercially sensitive' figures

Invest NI say there has been an increase in interest in Northern Ireland since the Windsor Framework – but the economic development agency won’t provide any figures on whether foreign investment has increased or decreased saying it’s “commercially sensitive”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the Windsor Framework early last year. Invest NI - the body tasked with attracting foreign direct investment into Northern Ireland - says it cannot divulge specific numbers as it's commercially sensitive and would give competitors an "insight into our pipeline". Photo: PA.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the Windsor Framework early last year. Invest NI - the body tasked with attracting foreign direct investment into Northern Ireland - says it cannot divulge specific numbers as it's commercially sensitive and would give competitors an "insight into our pipeline". Photo: PA.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the Windsor Framework early last year. Invest NI - the body tasked with attracting foreign direct investment into Northern Ireland - says it cannot divulge specific numbers as it's commercially sensitive and would give competitors an "insight into our pipeline". Photo: PA.
By David Thompson
Published 10th Jan 2024, 00:00 BST

The post-Brexit deal was sold by the Prime Minister as having created "the world's most exciting economic zone". US President Joe Biden said there were “scores of major American corporations wanting to come here, wanting to invest.”

Despite that, almost a year since the deal was struck, Invest NI say they are not in a position to release data pertaining to how many potential international investors they are dealing with.

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A spokesperson for Invest NI told the News Letter: “It’s too early to be able to draw any firm conclusions on the impact of the Windsor Framework on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) but we have seen an increase in interest in Northern Ireland”.

However, Invest NI said it was not in a position to disclose specific numbers as “this information is commercially sensitive as it would give other economic agencies, which we are competing with to attract investment, an insight into our pipeline”.

They continued: “We have seen an increase in interest in NI and are engaging with a range of businesses about potentially investing in NI. These negotiations can take anything from 12 months to sometimes years, depending on the project scale and complexity.”

Alliance MLA Sorcha Eastwood said: “NI has a unique position where it can maximise opportunities with access to both markets - we need an Assembly and Executive to realise those opportunities, the DUP in recent days have seemingly signalled that dual market access is an advantage for NI, yet at the same time are boycotting our government over the head of it and sending contradictory messages on it.

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"However, the vast majority of businesses, the public and political parties know that already and are trying to make the most of dual market access, but we need a govt to properly harness the potential of this”.

Related topics:Invest NINorthern IrelandJoe BidenPrime MinisterDUP

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