Dublin
The 7th China Ireland Business Summit, a two-day event held virtually, concluded in Ireland’s second largest city of Cork, 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 that China was the fourth largest agrifood export market for Ireland in 2020 and Irish food exports to China have 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 (with China) in the coming years ahead,” he vowed.—Xinhua
