US Congress invited to invest in a forward-looking Northern Ireland that is reaping peace dividends from parish blair Watch Video

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✓ Published: 14-Mar-2024

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A highly influential audience of leading lawmakers and industry leaders have been urged to invest in the opportunities that 25 years of peace has created in Northern Ireland through Queen’s University Belfast.<br/><br/>Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris, was in attendance alongside Congressman Richard Neal, who was hosting the event, as well as Jonathan Powell, former Downing Street chief of staff, under British prime minister Tony Blair, during the Good Friday Agreement negotiations, and former Irish ambassador to the UN David Donoghue, who was a key figure in peace negotiations over 25 years ago.<br/><br/>The Congress event included an in-conversation segment with US Presidential Envoy, Congressman Joe Kennedy III, and two budding women entrepreneurs from Queen’s University Belfast, Emma Stephenson and Khaula Bhutta.<br/><br/>Heading up the delegation and speaking to the packed room, Queen’s vice-chancellor Professor Sir Ian Greer, said: “I’m delighted to speak to members of Congress about the economic opportunities that Queen’s and indeed Northern Ireland has to offer them, as we reap the dividends of peace 25 years on.<br/><br/>“A constant and stable presence in Northern Ireland over the last 180 years, through seismic political, constitutional, and societal change, Queen’s alone has been the catalyst for hundreds of start-up companies, forming part of the university’s £3.2 billion contribution to the local economy. This shows the fertile economic landscape that is post-conflict Northern Ireland and the opportunities to be seized.”