This week, UK officials will welcome 200 companies to Belfast to promote Northern Ireland as a location for investment. The region offers unique post-Brexit market access to the EU and British markets.
Lord Dominic Johnson, UK’s Investment Minister, stated that companies from Japan, the US, and sovereign wealth funds of the Gulf States were all interested in opportunities available in the region.
He said the summit would “put Northern Ireland at the forefront” and that a number investments will be announced during the two-day event, which begins on Tuesday. Kemi BADENOTH, UK business and trade minister, Chris Heaton Harris, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton Harris, and Joe KennedyIII, US special envoy to the region will attend.
“[The conference] aims to create a buzz about Northern Ireland,”.
The event has been overshadowed for more than a calendar year by the paralysis that has gripped the region. Stormont’s executive and assembly, which are part of the power-sharing arrangement in Northern Ireland, haven’t been functioning since May 2017 after the pro UK Democratic Unionist Party boycotted it over a dispute about post-Brexit trade arrangements.
The vacuum in power has raised concerns about irreparable harm to the struggling public services of one of Britain’s poorest areas. It has also revealed how volatile politics has undermined the region’s ability to manage finances.
The UK and EU claim that the Windsor Framework, an agreement reached earlier this year for smoothing post-Brexit friction in trade, can change Northern Ireland’s fortunes. Local business leaders, however, are skeptical about the potential impact of the investment summit given the power vacuum.
“It is very evident that bringing inward investment to Northern Ireland is a good idea. . . “It’s a non-starter unless there is political stability and traction,” said the CEO of a major Belfast tech company.
He added that the conference would “put more people in the waiting room for people who could invest in Northern Ireland”.
Andrew Pyne who wants to transform Belfast International Airport into a hub of budget transatlantic flights by launching his low-cost carrier Fly Atlantic in 2025 complained that the lack of support he received from the UK government and the US government could force him to consider other options.
He said: “I don’t think they realize the importance of this for Northern Ireland’s economy — inward investments follow connectivity.” Stormont’s paralysis was not “the only factor” in delays, but it was “an important one”.
His attempts to obtain US immigration preclearance in Belfast, as it exists in Dublin, received only “bureaucratic”, “lukewarm”, and “bureaucratic responses” in Washington and London, even though this could “lubricate private investment”.
The UK Northern Ireland Office confirmed that it had not received any formal application from Fly Atlantic. Stormont’s Department for the Economy and the US Embassy did not respond immediately to requests for comments.