Post by earl on May 9, 2008 13:02:06 GMT
BELFAST, May 8 (Reuters) - Leading North American business leaders and politicians declared Northern Ireland open for business on Thursday, promising to invest in the province a year after power sharing ushered in a new era of political stability.
Northern Ireland's formerly feuding politicians, who 12 months ago set aside decades of hatred to work together in running the British province, marked the anniversary with a conference designed to highlight its appeal to investors.
"We've had a lot of bad news from Ulster in days that are passed but today is another good day," First Minister Ian Paisley told reporters. "I'm glad that we're going places."
Northern Ireland's once thriving economy was badly damaged by bombings and shootings that killed more than 3,600 people during three decades of conflict between the province's minority Catholics who want a united Ireland and pro-British Protestants. A 1998 peace deal largely ended the violence, but a decade on many jobs still depend on state support and while Northern Ireland makes 30 percent of the world's aircraft seats and a quarter of the buses on the streets of London, its industrial base is a shadow of the one that built the Titanic.
The province has attracted 1.1 billion pounds ($2.15 billion) of inward investment over the last five years, however, with over half of it coming from North America.
"Peace in Ireland seems to be stable and the whole environment is very conducive to business," Mike Zafirovski, Chief Executive of Canadian telecoms equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp (NT.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), told delegates at the conference.
Paisley has travelled back and forth to the United States over the last 12 months in a bid to drum up the kind of inward investment that has proved a major boon to the economy in the neighbouring Republic of Ireland.
"Today, peace in Northern Ireland is giving your people a new opportunity to prosper," U.S. President George W. Bush said in a recorded address to the conference. "Northern Ireland has made it clear that you are open to foreign investment."
DIVISION AND RESOLUTION
The province remains deeply divided along religious lines, however, with 'peace walls' protecting communities from each other, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said work still needed to be done to open the floodgates of investment.
"The fact is, the best and the brightest don't want to live in a city defined by division," Bloomberg said. "They don't want to live behind walls. And they don't want to live in a place where they are judged by their faith or their family name."
Anthony O'Reilly, whose Independent News & Media (INME.I: Quote, Profile, Research) promised 7 million pounds in new investment on Thursday, said UK company tax rates also put the province at a competitive disadvantage to the Republic of Ireland where they are much lower.
"No other part of the United Kingdom is emerging from 35 years of conflict and now has to make up for generations of lost opportunity," he said, calling on delegates to push for changes from a UK government he said had been "deaf to the argument".
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Northern Ireland offered one of the most attractive support packages for inward investment in Europe, however, and that tax allowances and infrastructure investment meant it could compete successfully.
"I believe that Northern Ireland remains a very attractive place for investment for the future," Brown said, announcing he would raise by over 1 billion pounds the money available from the sale of state assets to fund infrastructure investment.
Ireland's new prime minister, Brian Cowen, said the first precondition of economic success was stability and that Northern Ireland had now become a showcase for conflict resolution.
"The political culture in this part of the island now is irreversibly for democracy ... and that is why international investors come here now."
New York Stock Exchange owner NYSE Euronext (NYX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday announced a 3 million pound investment in Northern Ireland, creating 75 jobs, while Californian electronic payments firm CyberSource (CYBS.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said it planned to create 56 jobs by establishing a research and development centre in Belfast.
That followed Wednesday's news that Canadian plane and train maker Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) will invest 70 million pounds to expand aircraft manufacturing operations in Northern Ireland. In April, four New York pension funds pledged to invest $150 million in infrastructure projects in the province. (Editing by Quentin Bryar)
Northern Ireland's formerly feuding politicians, who 12 months ago set aside decades of hatred to work together in running the British province, marked the anniversary with a conference designed to highlight its appeal to investors.
"We've had a lot of bad news from Ulster in days that are passed but today is another good day," First Minister Ian Paisley told reporters. "I'm glad that we're going places."
Northern Ireland's once thriving economy was badly damaged by bombings and shootings that killed more than 3,600 people during three decades of conflict between the province's minority Catholics who want a united Ireland and pro-British Protestants. A 1998 peace deal largely ended the violence, but a decade on many jobs still depend on state support and while Northern Ireland makes 30 percent of the world's aircraft seats and a quarter of the buses on the streets of London, its industrial base is a shadow of the one that built the Titanic.
The province has attracted 1.1 billion pounds ($2.15 billion) of inward investment over the last five years, however, with over half of it coming from North America.
"Peace in Ireland seems to be stable and the whole environment is very conducive to business," Mike Zafirovski, Chief Executive of Canadian telecoms equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp (NT.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), told delegates at the conference.
Paisley has travelled back and forth to the United States over the last 12 months in a bid to drum up the kind of inward investment that has proved a major boon to the economy in the neighbouring Republic of Ireland.
"Today, peace in Northern Ireland is giving your people a new opportunity to prosper," U.S. President George W. Bush said in a recorded address to the conference. "Northern Ireland has made it clear that you are open to foreign investment."
DIVISION AND RESOLUTION
The province remains deeply divided along religious lines, however, with 'peace walls' protecting communities from each other, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said work still needed to be done to open the floodgates of investment.
"The fact is, the best and the brightest don't want to live in a city defined by division," Bloomberg said. "They don't want to live behind walls. And they don't want to live in a place where they are judged by their faith or their family name."
Anthony O'Reilly, whose Independent News & Media (INME.I: Quote, Profile, Research) promised 7 million pounds in new investment on Thursday, said UK company tax rates also put the province at a competitive disadvantage to the Republic of Ireland where they are much lower.
"No other part of the United Kingdom is emerging from 35 years of conflict and now has to make up for generations of lost opportunity," he said, calling on delegates to push for changes from a UK government he said had been "deaf to the argument".
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Northern Ireland offered one of the most attractive support packages for inward investment in Europe, however, and that tax allowances and infrastructure investment meant it could compete successfully.
"I believe that Northern Ireland remains a very attractive place for investment for the future," Brown said, announcing he would raise by over 1 billion pounds the money available from the sale of state assets to fund infrastructure investment.
Ireland's new prime minister, Brian Cowen, said the first precondition of economic success was stability and that Northern Ireland had now become a showcase for conflict resolution.
"The political culture in this part of the island now is irreversibly for democracy ... and that is why international investors come here now."
New York Stock Exchange owner NYSE Euronext (NYX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday announced a 3 million pound investment in Northern Ireland, creating 75 jobs, while Californian electronic payments firm CyberSource (CYBS.O: Quote, Profile, Research) said it planned to create 56 jobs by establishing a research and development centre in Belfast.
That followed Wednesday's news that Canadian plane and train maker Bombardier Inc (BBDb.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) will invest 70 million pounds to expand aircraft manufacturing operations in Northern Ireland. In April, four New York pension funds pledged to invest $150 million in infrastructure projects in the province. (Editing by Quentin Bryar)