DUBLIN, May 29 (NNN-XINHUA) – The 7th China-Ireland Business Summit, a two-day event held virtually, concluded in Ireland’s second largest city of Cork yesterday, drawing a number of officials, business leaders, experts and scholars from both sides.
Speaking on the opening day of the conference, Martin Heydon, minister of state at the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, said, China was the fourth largest agrifood export market for Ireland in 2020 and Irish food exports to China averaged almost 900 million euros (about 1.08 billion U.S. dollars) for the last five years.
China is also Ireland’s second most important export market for both dairy and pigmeat sectors, he said, adding that, his department and he, himself, as a minister with responsibility for new market development, attach great importance to the Chinese market. “My ambition is to cement and further develop that positive trade relation in the coming years ahead,” he vowed.
Addressing the conference, Chinese ambassador to Ireland, He Xiangdong said that, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral trade between China and Ireland increased by 7.7 percent year-on-year to, 18.04 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, and the first quarter of 2021 continued to see a growth of 29.6 percent year-on-year, in the value of the goods traded.
“Now China is Ireland’s largest market in Asia-Pacific and 5th largest worldwide,” he said, adding that, the Chinese and Irish economies are highly complementary and there is “great potential” and “bright future” for pragmatic cooperation.
In her speech, the Irish ambassador to China, Ann Derwin, also expressed her optimistic view about the future development of bilateral relations.
The conference was organised by AsiaMatters, an Irish think tank, in partnership with Cork City Council and Cork County Council, among other sponsors. During the conference, participants held an in-depth and extensive discussion over cooperation between China and Ireland in various fields, ranging from agrifood, education, to green development and digital economy.– NNN-XINHUA
