Business

Ex-pats gather for Belfast homecoming conference

From left, Colin Mounstephen, Deloitte' Andrew Cowan, NI Connections' Richard Donnan, Ulster Bank, Connla McCann, Aisling Events launch the Belfast Homecoming Conference 2015
From left, Colin Mounstephen, Deloitte' Andrew Cowan, NI Connections' Richard Donnan, Ulster Bank, Connla McCann, Aisling Events launch the Belfast Homecoming Conference 2015 From left, Colin Mounstephen, Deloitte' Andrew Cowan, NI Connections' Richard Donnan, Ulster Bank, Connla McCann, Aisling Events launch the Belfast Homecoming Conference 2015

EX-PATS from across the world are gathering today for the first of three days at the Belfast Homecoming 2015.

The conference has brought together leaders from Europe, the United States and further afield including a 40-strong delegation from the New York State legislature.

Now in its second year, the event at Titanic Belfast and other venues across the city, will focus on business, investment, the arts, job creation, tourism and education.

Speakers include Mayor of Bilbao Juan Mari Aburto, Mayor of Bilbao and Representative Mike Cusick, President of the American Irish Legislators Society on New York.

Andrew Cowan, CEO, of NI Connections which will be staging a pop-up banquet as part of the event said: "By engaging our diverse and influential diaspora we can help reap business and cultural opportunities for our members, and for Northern Ireland.

"The Belfast Homecoming 2015 is a celebration of that network and a space where we can think out loud about how we start to shape Belfast by using the input of our valued diaspora who are doing great things elsewhere. "

Colin Mounstephen, senior manager at Deloitte which is supporting the conference added: "Over the last few years we have invested £30 million in our own operation in Belfast which shows that we are proud to be part of a city on the rise. We have the ambition to succeed in globally competitive markets and we must connect even more so with our diaspora to bring further investment and enhance our reputation as a place to do business.”