IABCN members from PA Department of Community & Economic Development are currently on an Irish tour, selling the benefits of setting up operations in Pennsylvania.

Business representatives from Pennsylvania have said there could be major opportunities for Derry-based businesses to expand into what has become one of the world’s largest economies.

To read more about their visit, please click HERE and HERE, and continue reading below.

Talks have also been taking place around partnership work with Ulster University about trans-Atlantic collaboration. Joseph Burke, Deputy Secretary for International Business Development at the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development, and Richard Kilner, Managing Director, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania European Investment Office, delivered a presentation on potential investment at a Council meeting on Tuesday.

Addressing Derry & Strabane Council’s Business & Culture Committee, Mr Burke said they saw “a lot of opportunity on the island of Ireland north and south”.

He elaborated that their work centred on attracting business investment into Pennsylvania – the 19th largest economy in the world- and growing the export market.

He said that one of the biggest business opportunities in the state revolved around the shale gas natural resources located there and said that fracking has been ongoing for the past 10 years amid tight regulations. Mr Burke said that this was “creating a new renaissance in Pennsylvania manufacturing”. Other major industries in the State include life sciences, agribusiness and pharmaceutical manufacturing, mirroring some of the biggest employment sectors in Ireland.

Richard Kilner, Managing Director, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania European Investment Office (l) and Joseph Burke, Deputy Secretary for International Business Development, Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development, pictured with Derry City & Strabane District Council Investment Manager Rosalind Young.