Its been a packed week for Chamber on a number of fronts but the highlight of the week has undoubtedly been the Northern Ireland Investment Summit and the good news that professional advisory firm EY will create 1000 new jobs in Northern Ireland and set up a new regional hub in the North West.

Further details are to come about the exact location of the North West hub but the expectation is that it will lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs in our region.

The firm has already started recruiting across cyber security, data analytics, cloud computing, AI, risk, tax, audit and business consultancy. Jobs will have an average salary of £33,000 and will be worth over £80million to the wider NI economy.

Anna caught up with EY Managing Director in Northern Ireland Rob Heron at the summit. Mr Heron described Derry as an attractive place to invest and said they were hopeful that the firm could release more details of the North West hub in the coming weeks.

EY Northern Ireland has also pledged to work with the Department for the Economy on an Assured Skills Academy programme meaning that there will be opportunities for people to gain new skills or re-skill in order to join the EY team.

The Chamber team was represented at the summit this week by our CEO Anna Doherty and President Selina Horshi, as well as Board members Dawn McLaughlin from Dawn McLaughlin Accountants and Leo Murphy, CEO of North West Regional College. Selina and Dawn also caught up with Minister of State for Northern Ireland, Steve Baker MP and outlined to him the need for more investment in the North West which is brimming with talent.

The Investment Summit will be followed by a US investor visit, led by the US Envoy for Economic Affairs Joe Kennedy III at the end of October. The Chamber team will also work to promote the huge potential of the North West when that visit takes place.