AGREEMENT on the Windsor Framework is expected to trigger a new wave of investment in the north.
Trade and investment experts have reported fresh interest from companies just hours after the announcement of Monday’s deal.
It comes as Rishi Sunak told business leaders in Lisburn on Tuesday that the solutions agreed between the EU and UK around the protocol, can turn Northern Ireland into "the world's most exciting economic zone".
Speaking during a visit to Coca-Cola’s Lisburn factory, the British Prime Minister said: "If we get this right, if we get this framework implemented, if we get the Executive back up and running here, Northern Ireland is in the unbelievably special position - unique position in the entire world, European continent - in having privileged access, not just to the UK home market, which is enormous, but also the European Union single market.
"Nobody else has that. No-one. Only you guys: only here, and that is the prize."
Mark O’Connell, who specialises in foreign direct investment (FDI) said: “The Windsor Framework has a propensity to turbocharge a number of sectors.
“I think this is our moment and we need to lean into it.”
READ MORE: Sunak offers Invest NI cover to fully sell protocol benefits
Founder of Belfast-based OCO Global, Mr O’Connell’s firm has offices scattered across the world.
“There’s a wave building and we sense it from some of our own offices in Germany and France and even China, where there’s an interest in this type of proposition,” he said.
OCO’s economists have forecast a ‘protocol dividend’, which could see the north’s economy grow by around 50 per cent (almost £20 billion) by 2033, if the arrangements are able to work well.
Speaking on Tuesday night the FDI expert said: “I think that is even conservative.”
He described the deal as “the transformative opportunity our economy has been waiting for to address 60-years of under-investment”.
Trade consultant Jonathan Walsh, who works with and advises some of the north’s best known manufacturers, said he had already been contacted by potential investors less than a day after the deal was announced on Monday.
He said: “I’ve had enquiries from the US, EU countries and I’ve had enquiries this morning from companies wanting to locate in Northern Ireland from the EU.
“I have worked with hundreds of companies and I have not had one company tell me they ever wanted rid of the protocol.”
But he said the Windsor Framework appears to address the issues for those companies who reported difficulties with bureaucracy and had yet to experience any benefit from the protocol.
“I believe that it has massive potential for us, but we only have that potential if we have stability.”
