On May 10th, Leo Varadkar, Leader of Fine Gael and Prime Minister of Ireland met at the Department of Taoiseach with Cai Qi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee.

Cai expressed that in recent years, China and Ireland have witnessed close high-level exchanges and robust cooperation momentum in economic and trade cooperation, enjoyed in-depth development in people-to-people and cultural engagement and maintained frequent communication on international and regional affairs. Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between both countries. China is willing to, together with Ireland, intensify exchanges at all levels, and enhance strategic integration and practical cooperation under the “Belt and Road” framework, so as to promote sustained and forward-looking development of China-Ireland strategic partnership for mutually beneficial cooperation. The CPC is ready to enhance communication and mutual learning with Fine Gael of Ireland. Beijing will further deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with Ireland so as to add impetus into relations between the two countries.

Varadkar noted that Ireland is willing to further intensify exchanges at all levels between both sides and continuously deepen communication and cooperation in various fields under the framework of the “Belt and Road”, in a bid to boost relations between both countries for sustainable development. Ireland is ready to continue to deepen communication between both political parties and enhance practical cooperation with Beijing to assist in strategic partnership for mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.

At the invitation of the Irish government, Cai led a CPC delegation to pay a friendly visit to Ireland from May 9th to 11th. During the visit, Cai also met respectively with Sean O'Fearghail, Chairperson of the Lower House of the Parliament; Simon Coveney, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade; Mícheál Mac Donncha, Mayor of Dublin and others from the Irish side, and jointly witnessed the signing ceremony of a cooperation between Beijing University of Technology and University College Dublin with leaders of Ireland, attended a series of activities including “Beijing-Dublin Two-way Fair for Investment” and “My Stories in Beijing”, watched artistic performance namely “Night of Beijing” and made field research of refined urban management in Dublin city.

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