The formal business of the AGM was to receive and consider the Chief Executives' Forum Annual Report 2009-2010 incorporating the Directors' Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2010. The Report was adopted and FGS McClure Waters were re-appointed the Company's auditors for the financial year ending 31 March 2011.
The AGM was preceded by a lunch at which the Minister for Finance and Personnel, Sammy Wilson MP MLA was the guest speaker. Speaking about the key role policymakers have in these tough times, the Minister highlighted their key role in helping put the economy back on the road to recovery..
Minister Wilson reminded the meeting that almost £130 million in cuts were being implemented during the current financial year, 2010 - 11 and referred to the Spending Review that was due to announced within the following two weeks, on the 20th October.
The Minister said: "The next four years will be one of the most difficult periods for planning public expenditure in living memory. Hard choices will have to be made. They will not be popular in the short term but the only way to sustainably lift people out of poverty and improve their quality of life is to grow the economy and provide increased and better employment opportunities locally. I firmly believe that investment in economic infrastructure must take priority over investment in social infrastructure if we are to make this aspiration a reality."
Click here to download a copy of the Chief Executives' Forum Annual Report 2009-2010.