Business and civic leaders from Londonderry will meet their counterparts in Boston this week for a major international investment conference.

The Gateways to Tomorrow conference takes place on Wednesday and Thursday in the US city and is seen as an opportunity to cement commercial relationships between the two cities.

Congressman Richard E Neal, chairman of the Friends of Ireland in the House of Representatives, said: “I have no doubt that American companies will find enormous opportunities in the northwest of Ireland. Similarly, our world-class universities in Massachusetts look forward to creating mutually beneficial alliances with the University of Ulster at Magee, Derry.”

One of the keynote speakers at the event will be Bjarni Thorvardarson, chief executive of Hibernia Atlantic, which is laying a new high speed broadband cable link from the US. This will come ashore near Coleraine before leading into a new telehouse to be built in Derry on the site of the former military base at Fort George, which is being managed by the city's urban regeneration company Ilex.

Garvan O'Doherty, from Derry’s Garvan O’Doherty Group, which is sponsoring the conference, said: “To build Derry's economy we must create and strengthen our international links. Given the close historic connections that Derry has with the US — and particularly Boston and Massachusetts — it is only natural that this link is particularly important for us.

“The building of the telehouse in Derry is not merely an important physical connection, it is also significant as a symbol for how Derry can benefit from working with the US.

“Business and civic leaders in Derry, Boston and Massachusetts have committed to this conference and in doing so we are expressing our determination that we will extend the commercial links across the continents and through this will improve Derry for all its citizens.”

Other leading politicians and business leaders from Boston and Massachusetts attending the conference include State Senate President Therese Murray and State Treasurer Tim Cahill, who both recently visited Derry.

Those attending from Northern Ireland include regional development minister Conor Murphy and Derry City Council chief executive Valerie Watts.