FAIR PLAY - DEMANDS CHAMBER PRESIDENT

Chamber of Commerce President Ian Crowe called on Fair Play for the NW in his speech introducing Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister.

In his remarks introducing the Deputy First Minister, Mr Crowe said, "Fair play in allocating public funds; Fair play in delivering a more expeditious upgrading of our key infrastructure; Fair play in decisions about locating inward investment in the North West; Fair play in developing our university campus at Magee and Fair play in all major decisions which could make a positive contribution to sustaining and improving social and economic conditions West of the Bann."

Martin McGuinness, a native of the city, was warmly welcomed by Chamber members and guests as well as a wide range of stakeholders from the city. He attended an "In Camera" session prior to the Business Lunch, meeting representatives from Letterkenny, Derry, Strabane and Limavady Chambers.

Janice Tracey, Chamber CEO commented, "Our meeting with the Deputy First Minister was extremely useful. We raised a number of pertinent issues - the status of the NW Gateway Initiative, the lack of clarity regarding the A6 Derry Dungiven Dualling scheme, the challenges facing ILEX, and the demand for action in decentralization of government jobs to this City." "We also introduced the issue of training and quality in the Tourism Sector and asked the Deputy First Minister if he thought an all island training facility, or all island standardized training regime such as CERT, would be feasible and create a more cohesive approach to developing the all important all island tourism product"

In his concluding remarks, the Chamber President repeated - "No favours, just fair play".

After the lunch, the Chamber CEO commented, "One other issue we will be bringing to the attention of OFMDFM is the status of the NS Consultative Forum, asking that it be formed, put in place and that the NW business community has representation on it. This is one of the key ways that we can ensure that the balanced regional development we hear about in all the government strategies, from both sides of the border, is a reality and not a myth."