Mayor welcomes delegates from the City of London Corporation

The visit was part of a wider visit to Northern Ireland to ‘strengthen ties’ with the region.

Mayor Logue, in welcoming the group, said this was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the city and district and build on existing relationships between the two cities.She said ongoing relationship building and collaborative working with the City of London Corporation is hugely significant in raising the City Region’s profile and it was important that the strong existing business and historic links are further strengthened to driver economic growth for both cities.

“I am delighted to welcome members of the City of London Corporation and the Honourable the Irish Society into the Guildhall this week as part of their wider visit to the region to showcase the region and to promote the very positive work we are doing to bring growth and prosperity to our region through our suite of City Deal Inclusive Fund projects.

"It was a fantastic opportunity to promote the City Region and share the city and region’s ambitious plans for future growth and prosperity.

“I was particularly delighted during the visit to formally acknowledge the retirement of Mr Edward Montgomery from the Honourable the Irish Society following his impressive 27 years’ service.

"Since joining the organisation in 1996, Mr Montgomery has seen some incredible changes to our city and district and I would like to thank him, on behalf of everyone in Derry and Strabane, for his ongoing commitment and contribution.”

John Kelpie, Chief Executive at Derry City and Strabane District Council, added: “We are committed to delivering inclusive and sustainable growth across the entire Derry and Strabane city region and we are delighted to be able to illustrate these developments in person to our colleagues from the City of London Corporation. The visit was a unique opportunity to share with them about the progress that has been made to bring forward the City Deal and Inclusive Future Fund investment that is set to transform the city and district.”

Those attending the civic welcome from the City of London were Christopher Hayward, the City Corporation’s Policy Chairman, Simi Shah, City Corporation’s Project Director for Innovation and Growth, along with Edward Lord OBE, Deputy Governor of the Honourable the Irish Society and Edward Montgomery, the organisation’s Charity Manager.

At the meeting, the mayor also made a special presentation to Mr Montgomery ahead of his official retirement from the organisation this year. Following 27 years with the Honourable the Irish Society, Mr Montgomery is set to retire in 2024.

Following the meeting the team went to Catalyst to meet with the project board of the NW RegTech Supercluster and held a roundtable with representatives from the financial services industry representatives. The team then visited Ulster University to meet with representatives of the School of Computing, Engineering and Intelligent Systems, the Business School and School of Nursing and met with Derry’s Chamber of Commerce.