00:00And President Xi Jinping today said he hopes Ireland will play, I'm quoting him,
00:04a constructive role in promoting sound and steady development of China-EU ties.
00:09And for his part, Prime Minister Martin said that Ireland is committed to strengthening the strategic partnership.
00:15But for the Prime Minister at this time, it's more about trade, apparently.
00:19He is leading this huge business delegation, going to the commercial hub of China-Shanghai,
00:25and Ireland runs a trade surplus with China, making it one of very few EU countries to do so,
00:31with exports including medical devices, pharmaceuticals and agri-food.
00:35Well, China also has very significant investment footprint in Ireland.
00:40And both sides now, they would like to go beyond the traditional sectors, as I said just now.
00:45They would like to explore some new areas of cooperation, including artificial intelligence and digital economy.
00:50And earlier, I spoke to the former Prime Minister of Ireland, Bertie Ahern,
00:56who played a key role in shaping the modern China-EU relationship.
01:01Let's take a listen.
01:08Our two-way trade now is about 40 billion.
01:11I know that we're looking at the education ties and predict our cultural ties, business ties.
01:19And I think it's very important that we build that up.
01:22And, you know, we're a small country, but about 90% of what we produce and our services are exported.
01:30So for us in Ireland, it's extremely important.
01:34China is now Ireland's largest trading partner in Asia.
01:38And Ireland is one of the very few EU countries that is running trade surplus with China,
01:44driven by largely medical devices, pharmaceuticals and agri-foods you mentioned just now.
01:49So from your perspective, trade-wise, what would Prime Minister Martin want to expand in bilateral trade?
01:56And what is the greatest untapped potential?
01:59Well, I think, as you know, we are, even though we're a small country,
02:09we're one of the biggest producers of pharmaceutical and chemical and surgical goods in the world.
02:16So most of the world companies are here, based in Ireland, multinational companies.
02:24So I think the potential for us to be able to grow those markets in medicines and surgical appliances and pharmaceuticals is great.
02:37And while the figures are growing all the time, I think there's still a lot of scope to build on that.
02:43And, of course, the same with food.
02:45We're an agricultural country.
02:47We are, unlike most countries, our cattle are grass-fed.
02:54And, you know, this gives quality food.
02:57It gives, we have excellent research in food stuff.
03:02So I think this also gives them a lot of potential.
03:07I just came back from Dublin, and many business leaders I spoke to,
03:12they agree that they see the enormous potential in the Chinese market.
03:17But they also hope this visit can help ease some of the practical trade barriers
03:21when it comes to especially beef exports from Ireland to China, as you've mentioned that just now.
03:26So just how can governments on both sides help business overcome some of the obstacles that we're looking at right now?
03:34Yeah, I think this has been an ongoing problem.
03:38And, you know, the regulatory issues, obviously, and the veterinary issues, particularly on the food side,
03:47you know, have to be complied with.
03:48And, you know, I know in my time we had a lot of engagement with your veterinary people to satisfy them
03:55that some of the issues that affect many European countries in no way were damaging what we were selling to China.
04:08So then on the other side, I suppose Europe has a lot of regulations,
04:15and this can cause frustration with people trying to trade.
04:21And as you know from your visit, every year Europe complies thousands of new laws, new regulations,
04:30and this has its own problems.
04:32A lot of these are necessary, but maybe other ones should not be so stringent and so difficult for people to comply with.
04:42And then, of course, there's the legal side for, you know, a lot of business people find sometimes memorandums of understandings
04:49that, you know, that that doesn't mean what people think it means,
04:54so that the legal niceties are not so simple when you're dealing with two entirely different countries,
05:03with European countries, with China.
05:05So I think these are issues that I think are important to try to streamline and get clearer understandings.
05:13And I think these are o develop a new one.
05:15So, like, for less of you, I read that in the last few years,
05:17you're talking about what they might want to say in other states as a lot of human rights.
05:22You say they explain, they say they say,
05:25well, are e.
05:26They say they reach out in ORCHES,
05:30how long are these large ones?
05:31Yeah, hey, that's a neat song,
05:32I guess they say,
05:34how long are these laws and 16,
05:37changed their rules to look up inometering
05:38andvell topic of a uniqueới and strategy.
