Northern Ireland's capital city is situated where the river Lagan meets Belfast Lough. Today ambitious plans are underway to transform the face of the city. Urban developments such as the £500m Laganside Development, which incorporated the new Waterfront Hall, BT Tower, Hilton Hotel and schemes at Lagan Weir, Clarendon Dock, the Gasworks and Cathedral Quarter all demonstrate a city with confidence. Belfast has an extensive portfolio of available high-quality, affordable premises with average rents from £14.50 (sterling) sq ft for office accommodation.

There are well over 200 foreign owned businesses in the Belfast City Council area including.

Belfast is home the Harland & Wolff shipbuilders and Bombardier Shorts aircraft and missile works. It is still the centre of the North’s engineering industry, but in recent years there has been a substantial diversification in the industrial base with a particular focus on biotechnology, software, telecommunications, information technology and tradable services. The Industrial Development Board for Northern Ireland provides inward investors with one of the best incentive packages in Europe. Belfast is Northern Ireland's main sea port and boasts the world's largest dry dock, and the newly developed City Airport has many UK destinations as well as direct rail links to Dublin and Derry.

Belfast has undergone major tourism development within the last few years, resulting in the city attracting 350,000 staying visitors per year, spending £80m and creating 5,000 jobs. The bedstock within the city has increased from 900 to over 3,000 in the space of four years. This is mainly due to international chains establishing themselves in Belfast such as the Hilton Hotel group, the Holiday Inn group, as well as the Jury's group and Northern Ireland's own Hastings Hotels.

Belfast is also home to a new £110m Odyssey leisure complex and, with a reputation for following achievement with further opportunity, has recently launched the development of the Northern Ireland Science Park which will offer new educational and R&D facilities for business.