More than 100 tourism buyers travelled from the UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia, North America and South Africa to participate. As we all know, tourism is a very important and integral part of the city and its economy and I am delighted to say that the visiting tour operators were shown the very best that we have to offer here in the city as well as our surrounding areas of interest and beauty.

I am sure that their visit and the insight it gave them will have served in helping them actively promote and direct tourism to our area.

Last weekend we saw the welcome return of the original Siege cannon gun thanks to the help of local solicitor, Mr David Gilliland. Mr Gilliland responded to an appeal launched by Council to locate the missing artefact and was only too delighted to donate the gun cannon to the Cannon Gun Restoration Programme to be restored as part of the civic collection, where it will be relocated on Artillery Bastion.

This was a very special occasion for the city given the history associated with the cannon as the Programme is aimed at creating a civic collection for all to enjoy. I was delighted to enjoy the handing over ceremony with the Mayor of the City of London and Minister Arlene Foster and other distinguished guests and took great pride in welcoming them to our historic city.

Fujitsu's announcement on Monday of 120 new jobs for the city came after an historic and significant weekend for Northern Ireland and certainly validated the growing optimism within this city regarding employment, investment and regeneration. I am delighted that Fujitsu sees the potential in our city and acknowledges the fact that we have an enthusiastic, youthful and available workforce with a high standard of academic and technical skills.

I would like to acknowledge the company's investment and also pay tribute to the important role played by Invest NI in securing these much-needed jobs for our region. I am hopeful that the North West region will see the fruits of the investment conference in the months and years ahead. I am committed to working with the key stakeholders in this city to ensure that the city and region will continue to benefit from any potential investment opportunities that exist.

Earlier this week I welcomed representatives from the Back to the Future Project to the Guildhall. It gave me a great sense of pride and an affirmation of the potential for peace and reconciliation in our community heralded by our young people. The project brought together representatives from the Irish Street and Top of the Hill area of the city in an effort to create a greater awareness and understanding of our neighbours. This was a positive step towards enabling our youth to move forward and learn that we are all the same no-matter where we live.

We should respect and accept each other and our traditions given we are all united in sharing a wonderful city and its heritage.