Arlene Foster has welcomed the progress of Northern Ireland Partnering for Growth, a 10-year strategy for the aerospace, defence, security and space industry.
The strategy, launched in 2014, set a target to increase Northern Ireland’s annual turnover in the sector from £1 billion to £2 billion and to increase employment from 8,000 to 12,000 during the period 2014-2024.
Recognising the “substantial developments” to date, the First Minister said: “I welcome the significant progress that has been made since the launch of the Northern Ireland Partnering for Growth strategy, and I am very encouraged that annual revenues have already increased by 30% to £1.3 billion and employment to nearly 10,000 high-value jobs.
“I have no doubt that these impressive results will only improve, and that the 10-year target to increase annual turnover in the sector to £2 billion will be achieved. “This growth demonstrates that those Northern Ireland companies that have focused on skills, supply-chain development, R&D, sales and exports have the ability to boost their competitiveness in the sector.
Northern Ireland has a cost-competitive, agile, efficient and outward-looking aerospace sector, with companies competing for and winning business internationally by building strong partnerships founded on ambition, innovation and performance.
“The Northern Ireland Executive will continue to work closely with colleagues in Westminster to ensure that aerospace, defence, security and space continue to play a major role in the delivery of economic prosperity in this part of the UK.
“Our targets are ambitious, but with Northern Ireland’s proud aerospace history we have proven time and time again that we can overcome challenges and become leaders in a global market.”
Marcus Bryson, chairman of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ Aerospace Hub, said: “A primary objective of this regional strategy was to extend the international reach of the aerospace supply chain through technological developments and performance enhancement, to target increased work-share on major aircraft platforms
world-wide.
“Impressively, every major global commercial aircraft programme uses structures, components and expert services from Northern Ireland. The 60-strong cluster of aerospace business in Northern Ireland already play a full and meaningful part in UK aerospace development.”