U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton underlined the importance of continued economic development in the North during her address to the Northern Ireland Assembly in Stormont Castle on Monday.

Clinton added that she and U.S. Special Economic envoy Declan Kelly would meet with business leaders from the U.S. and Northern Ireland to increase business to business collaboration between the countries.

The U.S. delegation of top business men and women will offer their experience and counsel to Kelly as he works on projects that will benefit both countries.

“They will be meeting regularly,” said Clinton at Queen's University. “They will help Declan develop strategies that can be pursued, that can be mutually beneficial, and will contribute to the recovery of the global economy.”

“We often talk about investment in Northern Ireland but we have also got thousands of jobs created back in the States because of Northern Ireland investment.”

Clinton spent over an hour with members of the business community at Queen's University, and also revealed that a major American healthcare communications company wants to open a software design center in Belfast.