DESPITE her party's fierce opposition to the NI Protocol, economy minister Diane Dodds has formally signed off on a detailed "roadmap to recovery" plan underlining selling points for the north post-EU exit.
As part of her blueprint to rebuild a stronger economy when current lockdown restrictions are eased, the DUP minister intends to deliver a new international marketing campaign to international investors under the banner ‘Why NI’.
It will focus specifically on the uniqueness of "post EU exit opportunities" and on how the region can be a chosen destination for Covid-driven new business models.
Her department has also pledged to carry out sectoral research on EU Exit business opportunities focusing on sectors like services, where the north is deemed to have a competitive advantage.
It comes after the Irish News revealed that Invest NI, which comes under her department's remit, is promoting the north to overseas investors by highlighting the benefits of the protocol, saying it will bring "jobs and prosperity" to the region.
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Mrs Dodds said there remain "many and varied reasons" why investors come to Northern Ireland, adding that she was currently exploring opportunities in the key services industry "because we are not part of the EU state aid regime".
She said: "We want to take advantage of every opportunity that EU exit brings us.
"But we also want to deal with fact that the protocol is damaging to our main market and damaging to the prospects of firms within that market.
"We can't turn our eye away from what is clearly a fact, and what has already been impacting on businesses."
