E.U. Extends Special Taskforce For The North

Decision Comes After Visit Of Leaders To Brussels

The First Minister, Dr. Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness have secured the commitment of E.U. Commission President Jose Barroso to extend the life of the special E.U. taskforce set up in May of last year.

Speaking at the end of their successful two-day visit to Brussels, the Ministers said the extension of the taskforce was a further example of Europe's ongoing high level commitment to the region.

After the meeting with President Barroso at his offices in Brussels, Dr. Paisley said: "The E.U. and President Barroso have shown tremendous support for our mission of building a peaceful and prosperous society.

"The taskforce has made considerable progress enabling us to work in partnership with the commission and to build on our respective priorities.

"The extension of the taskforce's lifetime provides a long-term opportunity for Northern Ireland to embed itself into the networks of Europe, to share our experiences and to achieve tangible economic benefits," he said.

"The initial work of the taskforce is well advanced and I expect that its report will be published shortly.

"The taskforce's assistance has been invaluable, but this is not a one-way street, Northern Ireland is being held up in Europe as an exemplar of best practice in a number of areas. Our expertise in the area of conflict resolution is of specific interest given that 2008 is European Year of International Dialogue.

"The Commission has also expressed an interest in our development of the first cross-border electricity market," conclude Mr Paisley.

Mr McGuinness said: "Since the president's visit in May last year five of our EU programmes, totalling some €2billion, have been agreed by the commission and the taskforce has been instrumental in helping us to get those programmes agreed so speedily.

"This money will help us to deliver our Programme for Government and to build an innovative economy.

"In the last year our Ministers and officials have made several visits to Brussels, and in return we have welcomed the Commission to our shores on a number of occasions.

"These meetings have seen considerable development of ideas and proposals that will enable us to avail of a wide range of EU initiatives," added Mr McGuinness.