25/09/2001

Sir John Harvey-Jones addresses textile conference

Business expert Sir John Harvey-Jones has been on hand to address the province on key issues facing the textiles and clothing industries in Northern Ireland.

The business troubleshooter and motivational speaker was in Ballymena on Tuesday 25 September, to attend a major textiles conference which aimed to present representatives from the sector with assessment and advice on the way forward for the troubled sector.

The event, held at the Galgorm Manor, saw numerous guest speakers taking part in the discussions, including Bruce Robinson, Permanent Secretary of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and Stephen Kingon Managing Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers NI.

Sir John Harvey-Jones addressed the audience, speaking of the need for ‘strategic planning’ as the key to the future success of the sector. He went on to stress that developing education and training initiatives to implement these strategies would also play a vital part in the sector’s attempts to reinvent and reinvigorate itself.

The conference, hosted by the NI Textiles and Clothing Training Council, was sponsored by Ledu, IDB Northern Ireland, the Department for Employment and Learning and the Centre for Competitiveness. (CL)

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