Sir Reg addresses closing session of US-Ireland Business Summit

Speaking at the end of the US/Ireland Business Summit in Washington, Sir Reg Empey, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment has said he is confident that the contacts made by business people and academics during the Summit would be followed up.

The Minister said he was particularly pleased to welcome the Summit recommendation to establish a US-Ireland Research Partnership.

He added: "This partnership of academia, business and government will provide a sound framework that I am confident will encourage and foster research and development for the overall long-term benefit to our communities.

“The announcement by Secretary Thompson to lead an inward biotechnology mission to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is also an important step forward. This will support the development of closer collaboration and strategic alliances."

He added: "The widespread acceptance of alliances in the US provides a business opportunity for Northern Ireland firms because smaller US companies see such partnerships as an ideal springboard for expansion into Europe and other global markets. We speak the same business language and our business procedures and financial systems are broadly similar."

Whereas the business summit itself was low on investment announcements, it had been billed as a tool to develop relationships between Ireland, Northern Ireland and the US. In that sense it has been a success and in his address to the summit last week, Whitehouse special advisor in Northern Ireland Richard Haass – who was standing in for Secretary of State Colin Powell currently at the World Summit in South Africa – broadly concurred with Sir Reg. He told delegate that political stability in the north will see a return in capital investment, job creation and a higher standard of living – the so-called 'peace dividend'.

"The process of securing peace for all must be comprehensive: political stability leads to expanded business opportunity; expanded business opportunity lead to increased prosperity for people in all communities; prosperity leads to having a stake in the future, which in turn, reinforces political stability," he said.

He then called on the business and political leaders to "increase your investment in these relationships and to build on the positives which we have seen grow since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement".

"As President Bush said last St Patrick’s day, 'We are glad to see a strong and free and rising Ireland with so much to offer its people and the entire world'. This summit has been a celebration of these successes and the relationships that have underpinned them," Mr Haass said.

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