Ireland has been an active participant in the China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE or Hainan Expo) since the first annual event was held in 2021 and has continued to deepen cooperation with the platform. In 2024, Ireland had the distinction of being selected as the guest country of honor at the 4th CICPE, when its national pavilion was awash with a diverse range of products and events, drawing crowds and earning it the CICPE Ivy Award.

At this year’s Hainan Expo, Ireland continued to impress and proudly display its national image and industrial prowess with its range of top-notch agricultural goods, high-end consumer products, and showcase of its higher-education industry, sci-tech innovation, quality destinations, and unique culture. For Ireland, the CICPE is an excellent opportunity to bolster bilateral trade with China and bring quality Irish consumer goods to the Chinese market.

Ambassador of Ireland to China, Nicholas O’Brien, made the trip from Beijing to Hainan to support his country’s pavilion and marvel at this year’s Hainan Expo. He said that the “Expo is a very impressive operation” and looked forward to working closely with Hainan and strengthening trade and investment ties between Ireland and China. “If you look at the structure of the economy here in Hainan, I think there is the potential in areas around IT,” said Mr. O’Brien, alluding to one of the core sectors of China-Ireland cooperation. In his opinion, trade is a two-way street, and he welcomes trade from Hainan to Ireland within the framework of positive trade relations between his country and China.

Mr. O’Brien first stint in China was twenty years ago as Consul General of Ireland in Shanghai. In the two decades since, China’s economy has advanced rapidly, people’s living standards and purchasing power have risen, and cooperation between the two nations in science and technology, education, trade and other areas has deepened. He hopes that this cooperation can be extended to fields within China’s new quality productive forces development path, including pharmaceuticals, live sciences, and biotechnology.