| Welcome Message from the Economic & Commercial Counsellor |
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| Friday,May 16,2008 Posted: 17:51 BJT(0951 GMT) |
| From:IReland Article type:Original |
Welcome to this website! I hope you will find it useful in providing information about China’s trade and economic environment, and about bilateral trade and economic relations between China and Ireland.
It is all known that China is a vast country and the world’s fastest growing major economy. Its land area is almost 140 times that of Ireland, and its population over 300 times that of Ireland. Since the late 1970’s, China has been constantly driving forth its reform initiative and expanding the scope of opening-up and has obtained substantial achievements in socioeconomic development. In 2007, China’s imports and exports increased by 23.5% over the last year, totalling USD2.17 trillion, ranking 3rd among all nations in the world, and in the same year China attracted USD74.77 billion in FDI, the highest among all developing countries.
With its accession to WTO, China entailed extensive commitments and made significant contributions to the multilateral trading system. By 2005, its average tariff level for industrial products had dropped to 9% from the pre-accession level of 42.9%, whereas its average tariff level for agricultural products now stands at only 15.3% as compared to the pre-accession level of 54%. In the area of services, China’s commitments for liberalization have covered over 100 sectors and subsectors, pretty close to the rate of coverage for developed Members.
While I am proud of my country’s courage to open up and the remarkable achievements it has made, I am also encouraged by the depth and complexity of the trade and economic relationship we have with Ireland. Now China has become Ireland’s largest trade partner in Asia, and Ireland has become China's 12th largest trading nation in EU-27. According to Central Statistics Office Ireland, in 2007, bilateral trade volume reached €6.04 billion, an increase of 14% over the last year, with Irish export increased by 45%。
I believe, with the rapid and sustained growth of both the Chinese and the Irish economies, there are tremendous opportunities for the Irish business people in China in almost all sectors. The Economic and Commercial Counsellor’s Office of the Embassy is committed to explore and develop such opportunities and help to turn them into real business, in such ways as facilitating networking between Irish and Chinese business people.
Thank you for visiting our website. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know.
Xu Zhengbing
Economic & Commercial Counsellor
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