Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney has welcomed his Chinese counterpart to Ireland.
Minister Niu Dun is visiting Ireland for discussions with Minister Coveney on how to develop closer co-operation between Ireland and the People's Republic of China on agriculture, fisheries and food safety issues.
Speaking in Cork, Minister Coveney said he welcomes this opportunity to talk in person with Minister Niu Dun.
Mr Coveney strongly believes that enhanced co-operation on agriculture, fisheries and food safety between the two countries can be mutually beneficial.
With a population of over 1.3 billion people and rising, which is becoming increasingly more urbanised and affluent, China offers the Irish agri food and fisheries sector enormous potential as an export market, he added.
Mr Coveney pointed out that China is already a key market for Irish dairy, pigmeat and seafood products and that Ireland is recognised by the Chinese consumer as a source of high quality food.
The focus now must be to build on and expand these strong customer relationships to gain a greater share of the Chinese market, he said, and to work on gaining access for other agri food products not currently being exported there.
He referred to the ambitious targets set out in Food Harvest 2020 where there are 'plans to increase the volume of food production in Ireland by one third by 2020 and to add value to that food product by approximately 40%', and pointed out that the Chinese market could play a significant role in helping to meet these targets.
Mr Coveney also said he hoped that his discussions with Minister Niu Dun would prove fruitful and that ongoing co-operation between Ireland and China in the various areas under consideration would facilitate an ambitious approach to trade between both countries, particularly in the agri-food and fisheries sector.
