Rishi Sunak is seeking to capitalise on Joe Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland this week with an investment drive that he says will deliver on the “promise” of the Good Friday Agreement.
The Prime Minister said delivering economic growth was “the biggest thing” he could do to “secure a prosperous and thriving Northern Ireland”.
President Biden will arrive in Belfast this week to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement - the peace deal that brought power-sharing to the province and ended the 30 years of conflict known as The Troubles.
Mr Sunak is expected to meet the president on the tarmac as he disembarks from Air Force One on Tuesday evening, with Mr Biden then undertaking a programme of engagements including a meeting with the Prime Minister.
Downing Street said that he would use the president’s visit and his engagements with business leaders and others in Belfast to “celebrate Northern Ireland’s successes and encourage further long-term investment”.
Investment summit
As part of his drive to bring more private capital to the province, Mr Sunak has decided that the UK will host a Northern Ireland Investment Summit in Belfast in September.
The Prime Minister said: “The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement was an incredible moment in our nation’s history. It was a powerfully rare example of people doing the previously unthinkable to create a better future for Northern Ireland.
“It is that promise of a better future that we offered to everyone in Northern Ireland that I will be thinking of first and foremost over the coming days. It is my responsibility as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to ensure we are making good on that promise.
“Northern Ireland – like the rest of the UK – is teeming with opportunities, talent and ingenuity. The biggest thing we can do to improve people’s standard of living and secure a prosperous and thriving Northern Ireland, is economic growth. That’s something I’m relentlessly focused on delivering.”
Windsor Framework deal
The Prime Minister will return to Belfast on April 19 to address Queen’s University’s ‘Agreement 25’ conference and to host a special gala dinner to commemorate the anniversary.
His pledge to drum up investment for Northern Ireland will be seen as an attempt to move on from the bitter rows over the province’s post-Brexit status.
Last month, the UK sealed its new Windsor Framework deal with the EU.
However, the Democratic Unionist Party is continuing to boycott the Stormont Assembly over the post-Brexit arrangements, claiming they threaten Northern Ireland’s place within the union.
Mr Biden will give a key address at Ulster University’s newly opened campus on Wednesday, before departing for Dublin in the afternoon.
He will undertake a number of engagements in the Republic of Ireland before flying back on Friday.
The president is not expected to visit Stormont, which, coupled with just one confirmed engagement in Northern Ireland, is being viewed by some as a snub.
The Irish deputy premier, Micheal Martin, denied this was the case. “I think his visit to Northern Ireland is a manifestation of his genuine commitment to the people of Northern Ireland," he said.
Mr Biden’s visit has been overshadowed by warnings from the police that dissident republicans are plotting terror attacks against police officers to coincide with tomorrow’s anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
The president’s visit to Northern Ireland comes after The Telegraph revealed that he would not be attending the King’s Coronation next month.
The White House said a decision to send the first lady Jill Biden in his absence was “not a snub”, insisting “the president has a good relationship with the King”.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiZWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRlbGVncmFwaC5jby51ay9wb2xpdGljcy8yMDIzLzA0LzA5L3Jpc2hpLXN1bmFrLWpvZS1iaWRlbi12aXNpdC1ub3J0aGVybi1pcmVsYW5kLWVjb25vbXkv0gEA?oc=5
2023-04-09 06:00:00Z
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