This week we are honoured to announce that the special guest at this year’s President’s Annual Dinner will be the US Consul General James Applegate.

In one of his first engagements since moving to Northern Ireland last month, we are thrilled to say that  Mr Applegate will join us on the night for a fireside chat with renowned broadcaster Lynette Fay.  

A fascinating career to date, prior to moving to Belfast, Mr Applegate served as the Director for Europe and Asia Programs in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs(INL).  He previously served as Political and Economic Counselor at Embassy Rangoon during the 2021 coup and its aftermath, and as the head of the DPRK Unit on the Korea Desk during a period of active negotiations. 

He holds a master’s degree in international economics and finance from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and before joining the Foreign Service he worked as an Emergency Medical Technician. 

The Consul General’s visit to the North West comes at a time when we also expect a delegation of US investors to visit Northern Ireland later in October, facilitated by the US Envoy for Economic Affairs in Northern Ireland, Joe Kennedy III.

The trade visit is a key opportunity to demonstrate that Northern Ireland, and of course the North West is open for business and ambitious for growth.

At Chamber, we believe that we have never before faced greater challenges with the lack of an Assembly and Executive combined with enormous pressures in the cost of doing business. At the same time, we have never before felt such optimism about pushing ahead and growing our economic fortunes. We are the only region in the world that is able to trade goods freely with the GB and EU markets.

In times of political instability our businesses have continued to press on with great ambition, delivering jobs and creating wealth. We hope that the coming months will see a breakthrough on the political front, but in the meantime, North West businesses are focused on attracting foreign investors whose companies can benefit from our unique position, pipeline of talent and skills, and our ability to make things happen in the face of adversity.