13/09/2013

Robinson And McGuinness Address The Awards In New York

The First Minister the Rt Hon Peter D Robinson MLA and the deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness MLA have addressed the 16th Annual Irish America Wall Street 50 Awards in New York.

The Ministers were attending the event as part of their five-day visit to New York. The annual Wall Street 50 event celebrates 50 of the most influential Irish American and Irish born financiers. The event gave the Ministers a unique opportunity to showcase Northern Ireland as a serious business proposition and as a top global destination to invest and grow business.

With more than 300 of the most influential business leaders connected with Wall Street in attendance, the Ministers used the event to raise the profile of the forthcoming Investment Conference in Belfast in October.

The First Minister said: "The Northern Ireland Executive is working to revolutionise and expand Northern Ireland's economy. It has set itself the target of promoting more than 25,000 new jobs during its current term along with £1billion of investment, including £375million from overseas.

"The financial services industry is key to achieving that goal. Northern Ireland offers a compelling strategic, near shore location for US financial services firms that want to develop in the areas of technology, operations, legal and compliance and customer service. With top level communications networks and right on Europe's doorstep, Northern Ireland is a perfect location to do business.

"Belfast was named by the Financial Times as one of the top destination cities in the world for financial services technologies investment and only last week plans were submitted for a £20million development that will create a further 190,000 sq ft of office space in Titanic Quarter. The potential of the site is vast and the Northern Ireland Executive is determined to do everything it can to ensure it is a success."

The deputy First Minister said: "We appreciate the long-term support from the USA administration and the American business community in developing our economy. The United States of America is the number one source of Foreign Direct Investment in the north of Ireland, with over 165 USA-owned businesses employing almost 19,000 people across the north of Ireland.

"Our Financial Services industry now boasts a well developed cluster of multinational firms. Despite the challenging economic climate over the last five years, companies such as Citi, NYSE and CME have joined local examples of excellence, including First Derivatives, Kainos and Kofax, delivering world-class services and providing employment for both experienced and young talent."

(CD/JP)

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