Arlene Foster MLA

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster, today opened NICVA’s “Creating the good economy” conference, held at the Stormont Hotel Belfast.

In her address the Minister set out her intention to publish, for public consultation, a new Economic Strategy which will set out how the Executive plans to grow a prosperous local economy.

The Minister said: “The Executive is committed to working in partnership to build a safe and prosperous society where everyone can enjoy a better quality of life now and in the years to come. We need a strong economy to deliver this goal and in the coming weeks, I intend to publish, on behalf of the Executive, a new Economic Strategy which will set out how we collectively plan to grow a prosperous local economy.

“The ultimate aim of the new Strategy will be to improve the economic competitiveness of the Northern Ireland economy, by building a larger and more export-driven private sector. We believe that this approach will help tackle disadvantage and also address our wider issues of social deprivation.”

The Minister concluded: “While the Executive continues to take action to address the impact of the recession on the local economy, we must recognise that NI continues to face a range of long term challenges that have limited economic growth for some time. Building growth and prosperity requires co-ordinated action from all sectors but ultimately it will be companies and their workforces that remain the key drivers of future economic growth. ”