Future in the spotlight

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

By Robin Morton

The package, which was derided by the business community once it was established that little of the money being pledged was actually new cash, was devised on foot of the St Andrews agreement.

Several of the bullet points, such as the plan to create 5,000 jobs in the retail sector, and the opening of a new Northern Ireland corporate tax office, appear to have been lost in the sands of time.

But the investment conference has survived and today, more than 100 senior executives from over 80 American companies are due to jet in for the three-day event.

As originally conceived, the conference was designed to enhance Northern Ireland's competitive positioning in the global economy and to attract prospective investors.

At the main business session in Belfast tomorrow, they will hear pitches from US companies which have already set up shop in Northern Ireland and are pleased with how things have worked out.

Even though the US economy is in the doldrums at present, the hope is that Northern Ireland will register with companies looking into the medium term for their next expansion.

As Economy Minister Nigel Dodds says, it is vital that Northern Ireland is on the US corporate radar when the upturn comes around.

Mr Dodds has worked tirelessly to make the conference a success, having blazed the trail by making three visits to the US over the past year to beat the drum for the event.

And Paula Dobriansky, President Bush's special envoy on Northern Ireland, has also shown her full commitment to the conference.

She has been busy putting pressure on corporate America to respond to the invitation and has been highlighting the opportunities which are presented by Northern Ireland.

As she says, the creation of a stable and prosperous Northern Ireland is in the interests not just of the province itself but of the US as well, given that America has invested so much in the peace process to date.

For their part, The Department of Enterprise and Invest NI aim to sow the seeds over the next three days and hope that they bear fruit in the months and years to come.

According to Leslie Morrison, the Invest NI chief executive, it can take 18 months to two years — or even longer — for a big corporation to take a decision as to where to make a major investment.

The main selling points of Northern Ireland are its young, well-educated and skilled workforce, its work ethic, its low-cost economy, its infrastructure and the fact that its first language is English.

Add to that the fact that political stability has now been established, and Mr Dodds reckons that Northern Ireland has a good story to tell. But one problem is Northern Ireland's inability to match the Republic when it comes to offering overseas investors a tax break on their profits.

Despite all the pleas of the Northern Ireland Executive and other parties, the UK Government is refusing to budge on corporation tax.

This means that big companies setting up operations here will have to pay 28% on their profits, compared to just 12.5% in the Republic.

Nevertheless, Mr Dodds and his fellow Ministers are very optimistic that they can secure new investors for the province — even though no major jobs announcements are expected over the course of the next few days.

The Economy Minister views the conference as a "unique opportunity" to showcase Northern Ireland and also to let the visitors see that the province is very much "open for business".

The presence of Mr Brown in his new capacity as Prime Minister and of the new Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, should reinforce the importance of the event as far as the US CEOs are concerned.

And while the impact of the conference will be difficult to measure, it is vital that Northern Ireland markets itself effectively to a wider audience.

By Friday morning the American delegates will be much better informed than most about what Northern Ireland has on offer. The hope must be that not just the facts and figures, but the feelgood factor engendered by a silver service luncheon at Parliament Buildings and a gala dinner at Hillsborough House will stick in their memories. So that next time the discussion comes up around the boardroom table in New York or Washington as to where to make that next investment, Northern Ireland will be in the frame.