(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
Amid the emerging debate on the consequences of Brexit for Northern Ireland, the island economy is all set to reinforce its presence in Qatar.
Invest Northern Ireland, the economic development arm of the Northern Ireland government; yesterday announced its decision to expand its Middle East reach with opening a new regional hub office in Doha. As part of its 're-positioning' strategy, Northern Ireland will be opening 10 offices across the world and Doha is one among them.
'The big part of our plan is to increase our presence in new markets. We are in Europe and North America; but we need to grow around the world. Two weeks ago we opened our office in Chile. We will be opening Singapore office in the coming days, Alastair Hamilton, CEO of Invest Northern Ireland who is in Doha to attend the launch event, told The Peninsula in an interview. Northern Ireland has been very successful in terms of attracting inward investments' but not as successful in terms of trade. The idea is to make trade successful and increase the inward investment, Alastair said.
The Invest Northern Ireland is mainly looking for opportunities in Qatar's construction, transportation and cyber security sectors.
The Invest Northern Ireland would like to see a stronger bilateral relationship between Northern Ireland and Qatar, especially in education and particularly in areas such as life sciences, financial technology and cyber security, where Northern Ireland is one of the leading research bases for both large companies and start up entrepreneurs in Europe.
'We will be working with the British Embassy in Doha to develop those linkages and we hope to encourage even more GCC visitors to Northern Ireland so that people can make informed decisions about the education of their children Qatar Airways' new route into Dublin will attract significant traffic to and from Northern Ireland and we are confident it will act as a catalyst for mutual growth and an enhanced bilateral relationship, he added. The third of the world's aircraft seats are made in Northern Ireland. Today the majority of the seats in Qatar airways aircraft are made in Northern Ireland. "We also provides a lot of handling equipment, including trucks, baggage handling equipment are all manufactured in Northern Ireland. We are here to support those companies as well," he added.
In Qatar, a vast majority of sand used in the construction sector are washed sands. Northern Ireland manufactures 30 percent of all mobile crushing screening and washing equipment in the world. "In Northern Ireland there are more than 100 companies that specialise in this area. This is another area that we are looking for partnership," said Hamilton. 'We had some serious discussions with potential partners in cyber security areas. Research capability another sector we are going to showcase during the upcoming UK-Qatar Trade and Investment Forum in Birmingham, he added. As an economy, Northern Ireland faces the challenge of re-balancing the public sector-private sector contribution to the GDP. As of now, public sector accounts for 70 percent of the GDP. As a 100 percent government-supported development agency, our challenge is how to augment the contribution of private sector to the GDP.
With a weak sterling and a favourable tax regime, Northern Ireland is an attractive destination for real estate investors. There are great opportunities in hospitality sector, office accommodation for blue chip companies and student accommodations. Northern Ireland is expected to showcase projects worth a combined value of an estimated £1bn at the forthcoming UK-Qatar Trade and Investment Forum in Birmingham.
In the year up to December 2016, Northern Ireland companies direct exports to Qatar the value of almost £30m to Qatar, with machinery and transport equipment the leading sub-sectors. A substantial amount of airline seats produced in Northern Ireland are indirectly imported into Qatar.
MENAFN2203201700630000ID1095336769
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.