Rishi Sunak hailed the Good Friday Agreement as an “incredible moment in our nation’s history”, ahead of his visit to Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the peace deal.
The agreement, signed on April 10 1998, established a power sharing government between unionist and nationalists in Stormont and ended three decades of conflict in the region that had cost more than 3,700 lives.
Security services have warned of a heightened risk of terrorist attacks and an extra 300 police officers are set to be drafted in for events around the anniversary.
As part of his visit Sunak will meet the US president, Joe Biden, who is making his first visit to Northern Ireland since taking office in January 2021.
The US president, who is of Irish heritage, has been vocal on matters relating to Northern Ireland, most notably warning Sunak’s predecessors Boris Johnson and Liz Truss not to jeopardise peace in the region as they attempted to negotiate with Brussels following the UK’s departure from the EU.
Sunak said the Good Friday Agreement was “a powerfully rare example of people doing the previously unthinkable to create a better future for Northern Ireland.
The prime minister said he was “relentlessly focused” on delivering prosperity for the region. “The biggest thing we can do to improve people’s standard of living and secure a prosperous and thriving Northern Ireland, is economic growth,” he said.
In September, Sunak will host a Northern Ireland Investment Summit as part efforts to generate more inward investment.
Downing Street has said that in 2020, Northern Ireland received nearly £20bn of inward investment from companies across the globe, and receives around £15bn-a-year through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which is part of the government’s levelling up agenda.
The anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement comes at a time when political stability in the region is under pressure.
In February, the dissident republican group, the New IRA shot and seriously injured detective chief inspector John Caldwell, in the most high profile attack in years. The group, which opposes the Good Friday Agreement, was also responsible for the murder of journalist Lyra McKee in 2019.
Stormont has been paralysed since May 2022 due to the decision by Northern Ireland’s biggest unionist party, the Democratic Unionist party. to boycott the region’s political institutions.
