The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, has concluded the Beijing part of his first in-person trade mission to China, and will now move to Shanghai for the second part of the trade mission.
In Beijing, Minister McConalogue held government-to-government meetings with the Chinese Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Tang Renjian, and vice-minister at the General Administration for Customs China (GACC), Lv Weihong.
These meetings included discussion on market access issues for Irish products to China as well as approaches to sustainable food systems and food security.
Minister McConalogue commented: “The ministerial meetings provided an opportunity to acknowledge positive developments on market access issues with China, in particular the resumption of access for Irish beef earlier this year, achieved through collaboration between my department, Irish Embassy Beijing and the Chinese authorities.
“The department and embassy teams continue to engage with Chinese authorities on other outstanding issues including sheepmeat access to China.”
Minister McConalogue also held a number of engagements while in Beijing to promote Ireland’s high-quality food offering, meeting leading players in the Chinese food industry and hosting an Enterprise Ireland senior executive business breakfast focused on agri-tech opportunities.
The minister noted that “there is an increasing demand for high-quality, safe and sustainable food such as that produced by Irish farmers, fishers and processors as the middle classes in China grow.
“This presents further opportunities for the Irish agri-food sector to diversify the markets for their top-quality goods. My trade mission this week seeks to support the sector in accessing and realising these opportunities.”
The trade mission now moves to Shanghai and continues until Thursday (May 18), as the minister, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) officials and Bord Bia engage with key stakeholders and important commercial partners in the Chinese food industry at the Salon International de l’Alimentation (SIAL) Food and Beverages trade show.
The minister will host senior business meetings with strategic companies and will address an EU Meat Promotion seminar which will showcase Ireland’s quality, Origin Green-verified, beef, sheepmeat and pork offering and the control and production systems which underpin this.