On July 28, Ambassador Zhao Xiyuan met upon request with Mr. Alan Hobbs, the newly appointed Asia-Pacific Regional Director of Enterprise Ireland (EI).

Mr. Hobbs introduced Enterprise Ireland's overall layout and key operations in the Asia-Pacific region. He stated that China is Ireland's largest market in the Asia-Pacific region and a significant source of foreign direct investment for Ireland. Enterprise Ireland will leverage Shanghai's position as its Asia-Pacific headquarters to support and encourage Irish companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to expand their business in China, helping to achieve further results in economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

Ambassador Zhao shared his views on the current China-EU economic and trade relations, stating that China and the EU should properly handle differences through objective and calm dialogue and consultation. He noted that the development experiences of both China and Ireland demonstrate that protectionism cannot promote growth, whereas open cooperation is key to enhancing competitiveness. Ambassador Zhao highlighted that China's "15th Five-Year Plan" explicitly pledges to further expand high-level opening-up to the outside world, offering more development opportunities for global enterprises, including those from Ireland.