THE North-East is one of the most desirable destinations in the UK for investment from multi-national companies, the Government's Trade and Investment minister said yesterday.

However, Lord Digby Jones warned that, although the region is thriving, action must be taken to ensure the North-East has skilled workers to keep the area at the business forefront.

Visiting the region yesterday, the minister said he was impressed with the North-East's contribution to the national economy. He said it was an area of future growth.

Lord Jones, former director-general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), visited Sabic Petrochemicals, from Teesside, Caterpillar, in Peterlee, County Durham, and Tanfield Group, in Washington, Tyne and Wear.

The firms all operate globally from their regional headquarters.

Lord Jones said: "Clearly, this is a place where people want to invest.

"Look at what we have - we have Saudi money being invested into Sabic, American money in Caterpillar.

"These are hard-headed business decisions that have been taken; commercial decisions.

"Investors from these countries won't have made these decisions out of a sense of charity.

"This money could have gone anywhere in the country, in the world in fact, but it has gone to the North-East.

"This is a place where, for example, the automotive sector alone contributes £1bn to the UK economy.

"Look at some of the things that are happening here. With Caterpillar, every one of its articulated trucks that is being used in the world has been made in Peterlee.

"That is just one of the fabulously good news stories."

In his first visit in his new ministerial role, Lord Jones, who is also the UK's skills envoy, warned that action was needed in the North-East to ensure its prosperity continues.

"There is no doubt that the potential here is huge, but that is not going to continue unless there is a consistent stream of highly-skilled, trained people coming through," he said.

"What we need is to provide more skilled people, to train more people to work in these industries.

"We need to get more younger people engaged in technical training, right from their teenage years.

"It is very important that we have the chance in the North-East to provide companies such as Catterpillar, such as Tanfield or Sabic, with more skilled workers, and that is a chance we must take.

"All the statistics at the minute are showing that the North-East is progressing strongly.

"Although in terms of exam results the region is still behind the national average, it is rising more quickly than anywhere in Britain.

"The same is true of the level of business optimism.

"It's not rocket science. The North-East has many opportunities for the future - but those opportunities must be taken."