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Ireland & China - promoting closer links

Vice President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, visited Ireland from the 18th-20th February. During his time in the country the Vice-President visited the Cliffs of Moher, a dairy farm in County Clare and Croke Park, before attending a bilateral meeting with Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and members of the Cabinet at Dublin Castle and the Ireland-China Trade & Investment Forum at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin.

View some clips of the Vice-President at Croke Park and Dublin Castle below...

The Tánaiste welcomed the Vice-President on his arrival :

On behalf of the Government and people of Ireland it is my great pleasure to welcome you back to Ireland here at Shannon...Mr. Vice President, Ireland attaches great importance to widening and deepening our bilateral relations.  We trust that this visit will be an enjoyable one for you and that it will be the starting point of an enhanced relationship between China and Ireland.  

Speaking at the Ireland-China Trade & Investment Forum, the Taoiseach said:

I am happy to say that China is now Ireland’s 10th largest trading partner and our biggest in Asia.

It is a source of great pride to us that we are successful in winning business in China.  I believe it reflects many things that we have in common.  You just have to look a little beyond our respective sizes to find them...

There are also many similarities in the journeys that our two countries have taken.   We have both moved toward a knowledge-based economy built on innovation and technology, achieving significant economic growth.

MerrionStreet.ie spoke to participants at the Forum about building trade relations with China. View the video below....