Special Envoy Kennedy to discuss N. Ireland economic development, July 11

U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs Joe Kennedy III will discuss economic development in the region at 10 a.m. Tuesday, July 11, at the National Press Club in The Cosgrove Lounge. 

A former US House member from Massachusetts, Kennedy was appointed to his current position in December.  Kennedy focuses on expanding U.S. & European foreign direct investment opportunities in Northern Ireland, the U.S. State Department said in announcing his appointment.

“His role builds on the long-standing U.S. commitment to supporting peace, prosperity, and partnerships in Northern Ireland on the foundation of the peace dividends of the 1997 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in the statement.  

Please confirm your attendance by 3 p.m. Monday, July 10, by contacting Tony Culley-Foster at [email protected].

Kennedy will speak in the Club room named after the late Club President John Cosgrove, who was sworn-in at his 1962 inaugural dinner by Joe Kennedy’s grand uncle, President John F. Kennedy. JFK accepted Cosgrove’s invitation to become a dues-paying Club member.

Kennedy will provide an update on the first six months of his work on tasking priorities in N. Ireland and plans for a major foreign direct Investment and trade conference in Belfast this fall. He will speak for 15 minutes and then participate in a 45-minute Q & A with the audience that will be moderated by Club Vice President Emily Wilkins.

The event was organized by Tony Culley-Foster, a longtime member of the Club’s Communicators Team and a friend of Cosgrove. He is the founding chairman of The 13 Club, a membership group of Anglo, Irish, American and European private, public and voluntary leaders, which holds invitation-only events in The Cosgrove Lounge to discuss pathways for peace, partnerships and prosperity in the U.S.-Ireland bilateral relationship.