It's time to earn our Stripes

Next week's US: NI Investment Conference is a unique opportunity to show what a wonderful location Northern Ireland is to do business in. Enterprise Minister Nigel Dodds explains why

Friday, May 02, 2008

A key building block of our new economic focus, is the attraction of significant levels of inward investment. The PfG commits us to attracting more than 6,500 new jobs by 2011, the vast majority of which must be at wage levels above the Northern Ireland private sector median.

The US-NI Investment Conference will be a key tool in promoting Northern Ireland as an attractive location for investment. It will contribute to the Executive's inward investment effort and its success will be a vital element in realising the Executive's aim of building a successful economy. It is therefore vital that the visiting delegation of potential investors are presented with a win-win investment proposition. After all, the conference is a one time opportunity for us to engage directly with such a significant number of influential US business representatives.

We will showcase Northern Ireland, which is open for business.

Our visitors will see at first hand the greater stability and optimism for the future, since the restoration of devolution. We will demonstrate the expertise and skills of our workforce, the first-class research base which exists in our universities and the quality infrastructure base which underpins our support for enterprise.

We will also highlight the steady progress made by the Northern Ireland economy in recent years, which the Executive is determined to build upon. More than 115,000 jobs have been created locally over the last decade, while our manufacturing sector has become more outward looking, with exports increasing by 10% over the year. The focus on R&D and innovation is ever-increasing, with expenditure on R&D by SMEs in Northern Ireland growing by 9% over the year and by 88% since 2001 in nominal terms.

In addition, Northern Ireland has become a more accessible region, offering improved international access to key EU and US markets. In 2002, there was only one direct scheduled international flight into here. Now we can 'connect' with around 35 international destinations, including New York.

Foreign direct investments have also been boosted, with Invest NI securing more than £1bn investment and promoting more than 13,000 jobs over the past five years. Independent research from OCO Consulting showed that in the UK, Belfast is second only to London in its success in attracting foreign investment projects. Moreover, Belfast's strong performance is matched by Northern Ireland as a whole, with the region achieving top ranking for financial services software investment projects in the UK. However, we cannot be complacent. We must all raise our game if we are to remain relevant in the global economy and meet current and future challenges.

Lower costs can no longer be used to attract inward investment. Instead the skills and expertise of our local workforce and our local supply chains should be highlighted. We must target the right type of investment so that higher paid employment opportunities are delivered, in sectors such as ICT, financial and business services, software manufacturing and niche manufacturing.

While we have a number of such developing high-value sectors in Northern Ireland, they remain under-represented in our economy. The conference provides us with an excellent platform from which to address the need to build scale and increase the levels of investment and trade in key knowledge-based sectors in order to generate growth and improve productivity.

Alongside the growth of inward investment, we must also encourage the development of locally-owned companies. The PfG sets out a number of goals to help us achieve this, including increasing sales outside of Northern Ireland by 6% each year for manufacturing and by 4% for tradable services.

We must also recognise the challenges in the global financial markets and the US economy. We cannot ignore the impact that these could have on the Northern Ireland economy and on our immediate inward investment prospects. It is therefore vital for us to maintain and build strong relationships with key figures in the US administration and business community at this time. On average, the inward investment process for a company to establish a base in Northern Ireland is 18 months. By hosting the Investment Conference now, we are positioning ourselves clearly in the thoughts of key business decision makers, so when the US economy begins to rebound, Northern Ireland is remembered as a premier investment location.

While we cannot underestimate the scale of the challenges ahead, the positive performance of our economy in the past, combined with work flowing from the Programme for Government, gives me confidence that Northern Ireland can retain a strong competitive position and remain a prime location for investment. With the political stability brought about by devolution, it is essential that we seize this opportunity and show the US that Northern Ireland is a stable, welcoming region that is pro-business and pro-active in meeting the needs of international investors.