A business development mission, representing 17 US companies, will tour Northern Ireland next week seeking new trade and investment opportunities. This will be the third such mission officially sponsored by the US Department of Commerce since the first IRA ceasefire in 1994.

The Secretary of Commerce, Mr William Daley, announcing the new mission, said that "the current atmosphere of stability created by the recent IRA ceasefire presents numerous opportunities for US business that at the same time support Northern Ireland's economic growth".

The mission will be led by the acting Assistant Secretary for Trade Development, Mr Ellis Mottur, who is a former aide and adviser to Senator Edward Kennedy.

At a briefing yesterday, Mr Mottur said that the mission would provide "business matchmaker appointments" to the participants. "The US has been waiting for each side's renewed commitment to peace" to allow new trade and investment opportunities to create jobs in Northern Ireland.

The mission will represent companies in the information, health and environmental technology areas. One of these will be the Lucent Technologies, the giant telecommunications company which has an office in Dublin and now wants to expand in Northern Ireland.

Unlike the previous mission last year, this one will not include the Border counties in the Republic which come within the scope of the economic sector of the Clinton Administration's initiative to assist the peace process.

But it is hoped that the next mission in 1998 will include Louth, Monaghan, Cavan, Leitrim, Sligo and Donegal.

Next week's mission, working with the Northern Ireland Industrial Development Board, will mainly visit industries and companies in Belfast and Derry. The mission manager, Ms Virginia Manuel, has also arranged for the companies to meet community leaders and visit community projects in the Shankill and Falls areas of Belfast and in the Bogside and Waterside areas of Derry.

There are now 101 US companies operating in Northern Ireland. Some 69 have a "major presence", according to US data, which means that they employ more than 10 persons.

Mr Mottur listed several examples of how US companies on previous missions had set up or expanded operations in Northern Ireland. These include Liberty Metal Group of Boston, Unicomp software, and User Technology. He also cited recent major expansion plans by Dupont in Derry and Seagate Technologies.