Prince Charles attends International business summit in Belfast

The Prince of Wales was in Belfast today to take part in the final day’s proceedings of the Youth Business International (YBI) Summit.

On arrival at W5 at the Odyssey Complex, Prince Charles joined the YBI Advisory Group members during a discussion session. The Prince then took the opportunity to view a number of the country exhibitions, meet some of the conference delegates and hear about the progress of YBI programmes in their respective countries.

Following presentations by Richard Street, Director, YBI, Goran Hultin, Executive Director, International Labour Organisation and Bruce Robinson, Permanent Secretary, Department of Enterprise Trade & Investment, Prince Charles addressed the 100-strong audience from more than 20 countries including Canada, Hungary, India, Barbados, Brazil, Gambia and South Africa.

The Prince then travelled the short distance from W5 to the Belfast Harbour Commissioner’s Office where he was introduced to Frank Cushnahan, Chairman, and Gordon Irwin OBE, General Manager, Belfast Harbour Commissioners.

Following a short tour of the Harbour Commissioner’s Office the Prince had the opportunity to meet Northern Ireland Prince’s Trust Council members, supporters, YBI conference delegates and guests during a reception.

YBI was set up three years ago by the Prince of Wales to enable the business community to nurture and develop potential young entrepreneurs in an effort to reduce youth unemployment.

The programme, which builds upon the success of the Prince of Wales Prince’s Trust in getting business to support the community, is run by the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) as part of their international programme of promoting youth entrepreneurship through business mentors and small loans.

The decision to hold this year’s summit in Northern Ireland was due to the success of the local Prince’s Trust business programme for young entrepreneurs.

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