The 4th China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) opened in Haikou, Hainan, on April 13. This year, on the 45th anniversary of Sino-Irish diplomatic relations, Ireland was invited to be the guest country of honor at the CIPCE. Altogether, 29 Irish enterprises and organizations have attended, bringing over 200 products across more than 50 brands.

Paul Daly, managing director and employee of Irish Casing Co (ICC) for 43 years, stated that the CICPE is the ideal opportunity for his firm to showcase what it can do. Hainan Haisi Food Co., Ltd. is a joint venture set up by ICC and its Chinese partners in the Haikou Integrated Free Trade Zone and is the first Irish-invested company in Hainan. With a total estimated investment of 500 million yuan, the company is soon expected to produce up to 100 thousand tons of Irish meat by-products with a value of 10 billion yuan annually. “We’ve already received 358 million yuan’s worth of orders,” revealed CEO of Haisi Food, Wang Jianwei. More orders are expected to flood in before the CICPE ends. 

In an interview with HIMC, chairman of the Ireland-China Science and Technology Association (ICSATA), Chen Wen, said that the opportunities between the Hainan FTP and Ireland are massive. As a cross-cultural bridge, ICSATA is determined to advance bilateral cooperation and leverage the CICPE to wake more Irish firms up to the opportunities that the Hainan FTP presents.

Ireland is renowned as Europe’s “Silicon Valley,” with a competitive edge in telecommunications, biogenics, new materials, agriculture, and other technology sectors. “The CICPE has given us the opportunity to bring our technologies to Hainan and China, and to bring some of China’s innovative technology back into Europe, enabling [technology] sharing…something that’s really important,” explained Tim Crowe, CEO & founder of WrxFlo.  

The enthusiasm displayed by Irish firms at the CICPE speaks to their confidence in sharing in China’s development opportunities. To Ireland, China is the country’s biggest trading partner in Asia, its fastest-growing export market. To China, Ireland is one of only a handful of EU countries that maintains a trade surplus with the country, having done so for many years running.  

This video is co-produced by Hainan International Media Center and tropicalhainan.com. Special thanks to Patrick Quinn, the person in charge of tropicalhainan.com, for being the special host of this interview.