On July 28, Ambassador Zhao Xiyuan attended the launch ceremony of the 2025 University College Dublin (UCD) International Joint Education Exchange Programme. UCD Vice President Professor Dolores O’Riordan, Dean of International Programmes Professor Paul Fanning, and nearly 200 participants—including 154 scholarship students from three joint institutes in China—were present at the event.

Vice President Dolores O’Riordan introduced the main activities planned for this year’s exchange programme and warmly welcomed the students participating in the seventh UCD China-Ireland Joint Education Exchange Programme.

In his remarks, Ambassador Zhao stated that China-Ireland relations have continued to develop in a steady and constructive manner, yielding fruitful results in practical cooperation. He emphasized that UCD’s longstanding collaboration with Chinese universities has played an important role in promoting bilateral relations. Ambassador Zhao encouraged the students to actively engage with local society, share China’s stories with confidence, and shoulder the responsibility of promoting mutual understanding, peaceful development, and people-to-people exchange. He expressed his hope that they would serve as goodwill ambassadors between the peoples of China and Ireland.