JEDDAH — To mark sixth anniversary of Invest Northern Ireland, the economic development agency of the Northern Ireland government, and to promote Northern Ireland's capabilities in different areas a dinner reception was held on Monday at the British Consulate here. The purpose of the event was to promote Northern Ireland's capabilities in the areas of Education & Healthcare (Queens University Belfast, University of Ulster, further education colleges, materials handling (including recycling), food & drink, hotel supply chain, FDI (particularly in commercial real estate) and tourism. The speakers included Consul General Barrie Peach MBE and Wissam Saadi, regional manager, Invest Northern Ireland in Saudi Arabia. Speaking on the occasion Consul General Barrie Peach briefly described about what Northern Ireland has to offer, from trade and investment, to tourism and education. He said, "Northern Ireland is traditionally been the home of then heavy industry in the UK, industries like ship building — Titanic was build in Belfast. Today Northern Ireland is an exciting stop for modern industry, as economy has diversified the way and for heavy industry," Peach said, "I am very pleased to welcome everybody here this evening to mark the sixth anniversary of Invest Northern Ireland here at the Consulate. Invest Northern Ireland is an agency of Northern Irish government which links to promote trade particularly between Northern Ireland and the outside world, but of course its so part of the British family. "We are inspired about our efforts, as a British government, to promote and enhance trade between our two countries particularly in light of the Saudi Vision 2030, in which we see many opportunities to enhance the relationship between our two countries." Regional Manager for Saudi Arabia, Wissam Saadi said, "The event was a huge success. Once again we had the opportunity to showcase Northern Ireland companies who are active in the Middle East and keen to develop further the Saudi Arabian market. In the year ending October 2016, Northern Ireland companies' exports to the Kingdom were over £76m. I'm confident we can grow this further still. Our attendants are also delighted to learn more about all of the great places to visit in Northern Ireland, including the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim. I think we'll see lots more Saudis holidaying there in the future.'' Later Consul General Barrie Peach, Wissam Saadi along with Amna Ali, business development manager, Invest Northern Ireland and other businessmen cut the ceremonial cake. Invest Northern Ireland is the economic development agency for Northern Ireland. The Jeddah office opened in 2012. Northern Ireland companies have successfully been doing business in the region for many years in sectors ranging from medical equipment, diagnostics, standby power generation, transport and airport ground support equipment, nursing training, materials handling, beauty products to dairy equipment and food.
