The US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, is to host an economic conference in Washington next month to promote investment and job creation in Northern Ireland.
Her husband, Bill, the former US president, will visit the North beforehand in support of the campaign to woo US multi-nationals.
Details of the initiative were given by Mrs Clinton's economic envoy to Northern Ireland, Tipperary-born Declan Kelly, in Belfast this afternoon.
He said this was possibly the first time that a US administration would host a gathering focusing on economic development in one region of the world.
