Business Support DS

This is Hillsborough Castle, one of the venues for the Northern Ireland Investment Summit in September. Yesterday I was in Derry-Londonderry engaging with a range of local business people and business organisations. I started the day at two local retail businesses - the Vintage Star Boutique and In-Co - who have established shops thanks to support from the UK Government's Community Renewal Fund Start Up Accelerator Programme. These are two examples of businesses that have benefited from the 30 Northern Ireland skills and employment programmes, net zero initiatives and projects to boost business innovation funded through the £12m Community Renewal Fund. I was glad to hear from the Derry City and Strabane City Deal team about progress made on the projects benefiting from the UKG City and Growth deal investment package of £105 million for the region, such as the exciting Centre for Industrial Digitalisation, Robotics and Automation, the Graduate Entry Medical School and Strabane Town Centre Regeneration. The UK Government is supporting a bright future for the NW region and the whole of Northern Ireland, through initiatives such as the Inclusive Future Fund, the New Deal for Northern Ireland, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the PEACE PLUS programme. Northern Ireland is a great place to live, work and do business and I look forward to the Investment Summit.