Companies are planning to invest approximately £410m in the Northern Ireland economy this year. According to Professor Fabian Monds, the chairman of Invest NI, the agency charged with investment activities in the country, like those of all other western European countries, the Northern Ireland economy is restructuring in response to global market dynamics.

For example, in the past year:
. more than 1,500 companies participated in overseas trade missions. In the second half of the year, participating companies reported winning orders worth some £30m in the short term;