Minister's speech - Invest NI business stakeholder reception, in partnership with Tourism NI - 16 July 2025

Note: this publication may not reflect verbatim delivery by Minister Archibald

Good evening, everyone.

Cead Mile Failte to you all – a hundred thousand welcomes.

And a particular welcome to Derry, the home city of Martin McGuinness and John Hume, key figures in our transition from a place of conflict to a place of economic opportunity.

Ebrington Square perfectly illustrates that transformation.

This site was once a military barracks.

Today, it is a thriving hub for businesses and concerts, connected to the heart of the city by the Peace Bridge.

Indeed Derry as a whole is flourishing, underpinned by the North West Regional college, the City of Derry airport, Foyle Port, and a rapidly expanding University campus at Magee.

This week we host the 153^rd Open, and I know that earlier today you played at another one of our world-famous Links courses in Portstewart.

So you will appreciate why golf is a major part of our Tourism offering, alongside our fantastic scenery, the traditional music, and of course our hospitality and ‘craic’.

Last year, 4.7 million overnight trips were taken to the North of Ireland, with tourism expenditure totaling £1.1 billion.

Our aim is to grow this figure to over £2 billion by 2035.

That gives you a sense of our ambitions for our economy and for inward investment.

We are currently home to 1,500 international companies.

Last year, we welcomed 19 new inward investors from Canada, the US, Britain, the south of Ireland, Germany, the Cayman Islands and India.

They chose us for our competitive operating costs, but more importantly for our highly committed and skilled workforce, and for our internationally renowned universities and colleges.

We are targeting growth in seven high-potential sectors:

• Agri-food.
• Advanced manufacturing, materials and engineering.
• Fintech and financial services.
• Life and Health sciences.
• Low carbon technologies.
• The Screen industry.
• And software and cyber security.

In growing these sectors we are building on existing strengths.

We are already a trusted global trading partner in areas such as cyber and software, Fintech, professional services, advanced manufacturing and engineering, and creative industries.

The North has consistently ranked among the top destinations worldwide for fin tech and software inward investment projects.

Our creative technology sector has been chosen by Netflix, HBO, Sony, Universal Pictures and Disney.

Productions like Game of Thrones and the feature film How to Train Your Dragon were filmed here – and Derry Girls was, of course, filmed right here in Derry.

We are also utilising our unique trading status.

As well as being part of a growing all-Ireland economy, businesses in the north of Ireland have unfettered access to Britain and all 27 EU member states for manufactured goods.

This ‘dual market access’ gives companies located here a competitive edge in a market worth £6 trillion.

Indeed, over the last 5 years our exports have grown by 38%.

We are also investing £1.3 billion of government funding in transformational infrastructure projects over the next ten years.

These will be located in every council area across the North and will create centres of excellence in technology and in products and services of the future, such as AI.

Projects include an Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering and Digital Twinning Centre focused on robotics and automation research capabilities.

As well as drug discovery and med-tech facilities, food incubation centres, and application centres to support the adoption of hydrogen technologies.

It’s no surprise then that we are a top five destination worldwide for research and development investment.

So, while golf has brought you here, I hope you also get an insight into our people, our culture, and our economic offering.

Thank you to the staff at the Walled City Brewery for looking after us tonight.

I hope you have a really enjoyable night and a very successful visit.

Thank you.