[ad_1]
- By John Campbell
- BBC News NI economics and business editor
Image source, Getty Images
Joe Kennedy III focuses on Northern Ireland’s economic and investment opportunities in his role
The United States Special Envoy Joe Kennedy III is leading a delegation of senior business people on a four-day trip to Northern Ireland.
The delegation is a blend of US companies already present in Northern Ireland and potential investors.
It is not clear if any of the delegate companies will announce any jobs or investments during the visit.
It typically takes years for large-scale foreign direct investments to be finalised.
Who will be attending?
The delegates include Tim Sweeney, the chief executive of Liberty Mutual Insurance, which has a major IT operation in Northern Ireland, as well as a local insurance business.
Also present will be John Murphy, the president and chief financial officer of Coca-Cola.
Mr Kennedy suggested the trip would be a learning experience for some delegates who had not previously considered Northern Ireland.
“They will learn about Northern Ireland’s highly skilled and motivated talent pool, driven by its world-class universities and colleges,” he added.
In the absence of devolved ministers the delegation will be hosted by the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, Jayne Brady.
She said there had been a “collaborative effort between business, academia and government” to showcase key elements of the region as an investment proposition.
“We will be providing curated sessions across Northern Ireland to highlight sectors, where we already compete globally, including advanced manufacturing and net zero, software and fintech, life and health sciences and the creative industries,” Ms Brady added.
Whenever foreign direct investment projects are being putting together they generally take years to reach fruition.
This might be more the acorns rather than the oak trees stage of the process.
Given that Joe Kennedy has only been in this role for about a year, it is hard to see that we would get a blockbuster announcement while he is here.
That is not to say there could be some promising developments announced as part of this trip.
[ad_2]
Source link