News

IRISH SME’S LEADING THE WAY IN CHINA

Sponsored by AIB Corporate Banking Ireland and KPMG

An upbeat atmosphere was enhanced by the weather this morning at the Ireland China Association’s business breakfast in the D4 Berkeley Court Hotel in Ballsbridge. HE Ambassador Liu Biwei highlighted the extensive developments in business between the two countries since the Association was founded in 2000. Having enjoyed his Irish breakfast he allowed his positivity spread across the room. He commended the efforts of the Association in enabling business and cultural ties which have seen trade between the two countries grow dramatically over the last decade. He has opened the door to help Irish businesses to increase their activities with China and perceives their role as a bridge between the two communities.

A measure of the vibrancy of Ireland’s economic relationship with China is growth in trade. Merchandise exports increased fourteen-fold from €119m in 1999 to €1.6bn in 2009. Merchandise imports increased almost three-fold in the same period from €656m to over €2bn in 2009. On the services side the Ireland’s exports increased a very impressive 22 fold from €63m to €1.4bn in the five year period between 2003 and 2008. In the same 5 year spell imports of Chinese services boomed from €28m to €392m. Over the same period the trade deficit decreased from a peak of €4bn in 2006 to an expected surplus for 2010. This makes Ireland one of a very few countries that actually have a trade surplus with China.

Kieran McKenna of Aqueduct Investments went through an excellent presentation on the ‘real’ issues in capitalising n the strengths of both countries when developing a new product. He outlined the benefits of using top quality Irish designers and top quality Chinese manufacturers. He outlined many of the challenges that face an Irish company using this route, but many of them can be minimised by using the resources that exist in Ireland with the vast experiences within the Irish business community and networks.

Dr Michael Kyle and his wife Jiangling discussed interesting projects including launching products into the Chinese market as well as launching Chinese based products into the Irish market with the increased understanding that now exists among Irish consumers. Jiangling highlighted some aspects of the Chinese new five year plan and suggested opportunities for Ireland include the increased outward investment planned as well as the focus on the life sciences that Ireland has already established a strong reputation.

Kevin Lynch, Chairman of the Ireland China Association closed the proceedings thanking the attendees for such a high turnout and outlining the ongoing plans to further develop the associations activities to assist SME’s  maximise their opportunities with China. The Association wants to encourage participation among its members and promote issues of interest onto the agenda to share the wealth of experience that exists in the Association.

For more information contact:

Frank Deasy,

Ireland China Association - 087 634 0157