The North East is aiming to further its recent track record for attracting inward investment from foreign firms with some 鈥渧ery big and exciting鈥 projects, a leading figure in the regional economy says.
The North East was singled out for praise in a number of reports this year for its inward investment performance, with figures from the Department for International Trade (DIT) showing that inward investment to the North East created 5,843 new jobs, more than any other region outside London, despite being the smallest region in the 海角视频.
Guy Currey, director Invest North East England, said inward investment was 鈥渋ncredibly important鈥 to the North East, pointing to how Nissan鈥檚 original investment in its site at Sunderland in 1986 had helped create a regional automotive sector that employs around 30,000 people.
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Recent successes have included Equinor and SSE Renewables building a new operations and maintenance base at the Port of Tyne for the Dogger Bank wind farm, and the start of work by JDR Cables to build a subsea cable factory at Cambois in Northumberland, highlighting the recent emergence of the offshore wind sector as a key area of growth for the North East economy. Mr Currey said 2022 had been the most successful year for inward investment since he joined Invest North East England in 2014, and he said there was a 鈥渟trong pipeline鈥 of projects to come next year.
He said: 鈥淟ast financial year, we created over 8,000 new jobs from inward investment projects, and we were the leading 海角视频 region for job creation, when compared with our working-age population, it is important to enable proper comparison between regions of different sizes. This is a phenomenal achievement, and demonstrates that the North East continues to punch above its weight. We are constantly looking for new opportunities and projects to help grow our economy.
鈥淲hilst energy costs continue to be a challenge to households and businesses nationally, we have a very strong pipeline in renewable energy, electrification and other low carbon technology projects. We will focus on ensuring that the North East continues to be the centre of the 海角视频鈥檚 Green Revolution.鈥
He added: 鈥淲e can鈥檛 get away from the fact that inevitably some investment projects were put on hold and delayed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, despite the current challenging economic conditions, and with our partners at the Department for International Trade and the region鈥檚 seven local authorities, we are on the cusp of landing some very big and exciting new investments across our key target sectors.
鈥淲e are confident that 2022/23 will be another very successful year for our region.鈥
Earlier this year, Newcastle and Middlesbrough were named among some of the best places in Europe in which to invest. The annual FDI European Cities and Region of the Future report ranked Newcastle as the fourth best mid-sized European city of the future, while Middlesbrough was ranked third in the small European city section.
That was followed by a report from the Northern Powerhouse Partnership which showed the North was outperforming the rest of the country when it comes to attracting foreign direct investment. The report cited data showing that foreign direct investment into the North had gone up 72% in the last five years despite dropping across the rest of the 海角视频.
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