Londonderry summitpart of our bid to buildon east-west linkages

That’s according to the First Minister and Deputy First Minister who were asked by East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell about linkages between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

The OFMDFM Ministers replied: “The Northern Ireland Executive continues to play an active role in furthering the objectives of the British-Irish Council (BIC).

“We attend the biannual Summit meetings of the BIC and were pleased to host the successful 20th BIC Summit in Derry~Londonderry in June last year.

“The BIC also meets at sectoral Ministerial level as required and regularly at official level.”

The Ministers said the Executive also leads on three of the twelve BIC work sectors: Collaborative Spatial Planning, Housing and Transport.

“In addition to funding an agreed proportion of the running costs of the BIC Secretariat, the Executive enhances its east-west linkages through the assignment of a Policy Officer on secondment to the BIC Secretariat in Edinburgh,” they stated.

“The Northern Ireland Executive is also a member of the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) together with the UK Government, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government.

“The JMC meets annually in plenary format, and also at intervals during each year in Domestic and European formats to discuss matters of common interest and concerns to all administrations,” they added.