Post date: Nov 20, 2012 4:50:58 PM
During a visit to a factory in Belfast, British Prime Minister David Cameron confirms that next year's G8 summit of world leaders will be held in County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland.
CRAIGAVON, NEAR BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM (NOVEMBER 20, 2012) (UK POOL) - Britain will host next year's summit of G8 leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama at a resort close to the scene of one of Northern Ireland's worst bomb attacks, in a vote of confidence in the province's security.
The summit will take place on June 17 and 18 at the five-star Lough Erne golf resort, 5 miles from the site of the 1987 Enniskillen bombing, which killed 12 people.It will be the largest diplomatic summit ever held in the province.
Prime Minister David Cameron announced the location during a visit to a factory in Craigavon, south west of Belfast.
"Next year, Britain will be the chairman of the G8 group of countries. Eight of the most important and powerful and strongest nations in the world - America, Russia, France, Italy, Germany, Japan. And as chairman of the G8, I get to decide where to hold the big G8 conference next year, on the 17th and 18th of June. And I've decided the right place to hold it is right here in Northern Ireland. And we'll be holding the G8 on the 17th and 18th of June at Lough Erne, in County Fermanagh. I think this will be a brilliant advertisement for Northern Ireland."
A 1998 peace deal largely ended three decades of sectarian conflict between Protestants loyal to British rule and Roman Catholic nationalists who want to unite with the Irish republic, but dissident militants continue to target the security forces.
A Northern Irish prison officer was shot dead earlier this month as he drove to work, the first killing of a prison officer in Northern Ireland in almost 20 years and the fifth fatal attack on a member of the security establishment since 1998.
The last time the summit was held in the United Kingdom, Group of Eight leaders met at Gleneagles inScotland in 2005.
The Lough Erne resort, which includes a hotel with 120 rooms, went into administration last year following a property crash that hit both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.