From the president
Business is the engine of the local economy
by Mark Nodder, president of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce T Chamber Patrons
his is a very challenging time to be taking over the Presidency of Northern Irelandʼs biggest and most influential business organisation. Of course the main challenge, especially for our exporters, is presented by the financial crisis currently battering Europe and which seems likely to continue to do so for some time to come. The Chamber, against this background, of uncertainty will continue its work with the Executive to raise the profile of business in Northern Ireland. This means identifying measures that the Executive can implement to make it easier for companies, especially the small and medium enterprises which are the backbone of the local economy, to do business, both in Northern Ireland and overseas. The economy, of course, is at the core of the Executiveʼs Programme for Government, a strategic commitment I welcome. However we look to the Executive to honour this commitment by sharpening its focus on the needs of business. Business is the engine of the local economy. The UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive need to recognise that businesspeople and entrepreneurs need to be encouraged and assisted to get the economy moving again. Government's role is to create the conditions for business growth so that business will regain the confidence to start investing again in products, services, people and markets for faster growth. Our campaign for a reduction in Corporation
Tax to stimulate greater investment by established companies and potential inward investors will continue to be a priority. Thereʼs also an urgent need to look at other measures that will encourage enterprise and help transform Northern Ireland into the dynamic private sector driven economy that we all wish to see. Thereʼs a strong case, for instance, for the Executive to look beyond Corporation Tax to see if other taxes could be devolved to the benefit of Northern Ireland.
What is needed among politicians and officials at Stormont and throughout the community is a widespread acceptance that business is good for Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland is good for business.
Successful business creates the wealth that this community needs to improve all its public services especially hospitals and schools. We also need the UK Government to accept this maxim and, in particular, to honour its oft‑ repeated promise to set business free from the bureaucracy that stifles and hinders the enterprise and innovation so desperately needed to create wealth and jobs.
This is crucially important because business in
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the UK is still having to grapple with more bureaucratic red tape than in most other nations. Bureaucracy is quite simply making it impossible for business to drive economic growth in the UK. Many of the initiatives taken by the UK Government to assist innovation through, for instance, R&D credits, are so complicated that companies cannot access the support easily. What companies need is a tax system thatʼs easy to understand and which will encourage investment. This applies too to environmental requirements and regulations.
And the Executive should also enable local companies to benefit from public procurement programmes here. More of our companies must be prepared to accept that they may have to form partnerships to win this business. Government needs to recognise that business needs confidence to invest in growth. The Chamber was built on the enterprise and innovation of successive generations of business people who, for instance, helped to turn Northern Ireland into a global leader in many industries including shipbuilding, which has been in sharp focus recently with the Titanic centenary celebrations, as well as engineering and textiles. Northern Ireland continues to develop world leading expertise in sectors such as ICT, advanced engineering, life sciences, screening and quarrying machinery and transport. Itʼs widely accepted that we need to see a great many more businesses aspiring to and achieving global leadership. To assist them, we need to ensure that they have a support infrastructure that efficient and effective. And that their role in the development of the economy is recognised and adequately rewarded.
I share the commitment articulated most recently by first minister Peter Robinson and deputy first minister Martin McGuinness to do whatever is needed to promote sales in global markets including the so‑called BRIC nations ‒ Brazil, Russia, India and China.
I welcome their focus on exporting as the best, perhaps, the only route to economic recovery for Northern Ireland.
This is an endorsement of the Chamberʼs strategic approach developed over many years. The Chamber has an extensive and successful export programme, Export First, which I will seek to expand during my Presidency.
I can assure both ministers that we are ready and able to help more companies to grasp the opportunities that exist in BRIC nations and indeed many other more established markets such as the US and Europe, where thereʼs still good business to be done.
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