284 offers valued at £5m over2008-13

Between 2008 and 2013 Invest NI made 284 offers of support totalling over £5m of assistance in the Strabane District Council area, according to the Trade Minister Arlene Foster.
Arlene FosterArlene Foster
Arlene Foster

The Minister stated: “This contributed towards approximately £30million of investment, which promoted 481 new jobs in the Strabane District Council area.

“Almost 90 per cent of these offers were made to locally-owned businesses, which accounted for 65 per cent of the assistance offered in the area and 70 per cent of the investment planned by these projects.”

She also said that the Invest NI Jobs Fund provided support to 21 businesses, promoting 63 jobs between 2011 and 2013, including a £2m investment by Frylite Limited, which has brought a further 19 jobs.

She said that Invest NI works closely with Strabane Council to provide support in the area through a range of initiatives including the Local Economic Development measure.

Mrs Foster also said that key target sectors are ICT, business services, financial services and renewables.

She stated: “It also works with existing investors to grow and expand in Northern Ireland.

“A recent example of this is Allstate (a major US ICT company) which announced plans to create 650 new jobs across its three sites in Strabane, Londonderry and Belfast.”