Visit to Ireland Enhances Ties with Guangdong Province

During a visit to Ireland in June a delegation from China's southern province of Guangdong met with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny to discuss furthering economic and trade cooperation and also visited University College Dublin (UCD) to further explore the strategic relationships between the two universities.

Leading the delegation Hu Chunhua, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the Guangdong Provincial CPC Committee, said his visit was aimed at further implementing the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, strengthening communication and exchanges in all sectors and expanding economic and trade ties between local governments, through enhancing friendly cooperation in a wide range of fields, including science and technology, education and agriculture. In response Prime Minister Kenny indicated that with existing long-term friendships having developed smoothly, the country would be willing to boost communication and exchanges with Guangdong and China at large. Attending a business roundtable meeting, in which over 120 Guangdong and Irish entrepreneurs participated, Hu said that his province remained committed developing an “innovation oriented” economy, with focused efforts to promote green, circular, and low-carbon development.

During his visit to UCD, Hu witnessed the co-signing of a Letter of Intent by the President of University College Dublin (UCD), Professor Andrew Deeks, and the President of South China Agricultural Unversity (SCAU), Professor Chen Xiaoyang, for the future development of joint UCD-SCAU academic programmes in areas such as agri-food science, plant biology, life science, horticulture and agricultural economics.

University College Dublin and South China Agricultural University already offer a joint undergraduate 2+2 program in bioscience approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education.

The co-signing of the Letter of Intent by UCD and SCAU was also witnessed by Richard Bruton TD, the Minister for Education for the Irish Government.