Immigrants are among the hardest workers in the region and more are needed to bolster the economy, a business leader said last night.

North-East Chamber of Commerce chief executive James Ramsbotham made the comments before talks on a strategy to attract more foreign workers.

As well as economic migrants, he also called on the region to welcome asylum seekers whose children "study like demons". Development agency One NorthEast will meet business leaders, trade unions, councils and regional universities on January 19 to discuss how to attract more migrants.

Mr Ramsbotham said diversity would increase enterprise. He said the North-East's Asian community produced a greater proportion of wealth than its share of the population and added: "I'm convinced Polish workers are adding to the economy because they're not sitting idly by - whereas sadly, there are too many indigenous people who are not economically active.

"We as a region have not had a great history in welcoming people - not that we've been anti, but somehow we've not successfully embraced people from around the world in a way other parts of the country have."

He said the most hardworking pupils in the region were often from asylum-seekers' families. "They study like demons at school because it's been bred into them what their parents have sacrificed to give this opportunity to them.

"Logic says if we want to grow a hugely enterprising economy, we need all the asylum seekers. Politically, that's a really dangerous thing to say, but for all the wrong reasons, because often it's people who've got that risk-taking determination to succeed that we want.

But we've got to get the balance right, because it does need people who want to become completely part of the society they've come to and not keep themselves separate. "

ONE director of strategy Pat Ritchie said: "The agency's regional economic strategy is primarily aimed at improving employment and skills levels for people already in the North-East.

"We need to complement this work by helping our businesses to compete in the international economy by attracting talented people to fill identified skills shortages."

TUC Northern secretary Kevin Rowan said: "There's certainly a work ethic that we know about from the migrant workers who are already here."

But many were in jobs for which they were over-qualified and some were not well treated by employers.

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Not enough native workers to fill jobs

The regional economic strategy drawn up by One NorthEast aims to create at least 61,000 new jobs by 2016.

However, North-East Chamber of Commerce chief executive James Ramsbotham claims there are not enough people in the region to fill them, despite the fact latest figures show there are 380,000 working age people who are economically inactive.

Mr Ramsbotham said many are people who used to work in industries such as coal or steel who are now close to retirement age.

The 2001 census showed there were 67,000 people in the region born outside Britain. However, the number is known to have risen sharply since then, with 47,400 from eastern Europe alone.