The Women's Coalition has called for greater co-operation between the Industrial Development Board in Northern Ireland and complementary bodies in the Republic, such as the IDA and Forbairt.
Ms Monica McWilliams, one of the chief spokeswomen for the Women's Coalition, one of the parties involved in the talks process, told the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce yesterday that the North's economy must be based on competitiveness and quality employment.
"The prime objective of our economic development agencies must be to support employment-generating projects aimed at creating sustainable high-quality jobs, particularly in areas of greatest social need," she told a Chamber of Commerce lunch at the Dunadry House Hotel in Co Antrim.
"But ultimately all of these can only be achieved within a peaceful society based on a culture of rights where those who govern are accountable, where business takes responsibility for the state we're in, and where political relationships are not frozen by polarised ideology," Ms McWilliams said.
She also called for the creation of a Northern Ireland Civic Forum, which would act as a second tier of the proposed new Northern assembly.
Ms McWilliams said a key to economic development was greater co-operation between bodies such as the IDB with its sister bodies in the South.
"This is most important with regard to export, research and development, and tourism, and is clearly an area of important consideration within the North-South arrangements arrived at through the Strand Two talks," she added.
It was vital that the British government, the economic agencies and bodies such as the Chamber of Commerce concentrate on encouraging inward investment, particularly from the United States, "where the business sector awaits a peaceful Northern Ireland".
