Peace-making in the North needs to be underpinned by economic regeneration, Senator George Mitchell said yesterday.
Senator Mitchell, who chaired the talks leading to the Belfast Agreement in 1998, was in Belfast for the conferring of degrees at Queen's University where he is chancellor.
After greeting each of 400 graduates, he travelled to the Springfield Road interface in west Belfast to address economic development groups from across the city.
He said political progress, no matter how slow, needed to be founded on economic development. All people in conflict situations aspired to rewarding employment to feed their families and to give their lives meaning. They also wanted to give their children the opportunity to realise their potential.
"I recall very clearly my first day in Belfast 11 years ago. I met groups like these people here today. The message they conveyed to me then was that the areas most hard-hit by the violence were also the areas most hard-hit in terms of unemployment and economic activity."
He cautioned: "Economic growth is always uneven; its benefits are not evenly distributed throughout a society.
"It is, therefore, very important that there be a plan that seeks to improve all areas - not just some - and make opportunity available to all, not just some."