Wexford hosts Chinese delegation

By Dan Walsh

Wexford County Council has hosted a delegation of six key representatives from the Jiangxi Province in China and has signed a letter of intent for future trade, education, tourism and cultural ties for Wexford and the Chinese province.

The delegation visited Wexford County Hall at Carricklawn where details on Wexford County Council’s key economic development plans and opportunities for collaboration with Jiangxi were discussed.

Following this meeting, an official signing ceremony of a ‘Letter of Intent’ took place with the Governor of Jiangxi Provincial People’s Government, Mr Ye Jianchun and Cathaoirleach of Wexford County Council, Cllr John Fleming, in front of an invited audience which included the Chinese Ambassador to Ireland, Mr. He Xiangdong.

Cathaoirleach Cllr John Fleming said; “We were honoured to have hosted such a high-level delegation led by the Governor of the Jiangxi Provincial People’s Government, Mr Ye Jianchun. The purpose of this visit was to establish strategic linkages and collaboration working towards embracing each regions cultural strengths, along with each party learning about the business environment in each region thereby gaining a better understanding of the increasing opportunities between us.

“This visit was a resounding success, and we are delighted to have signed a Letter of Intent between Wexford County Council and the Jiangxi Province to work towards a thriving future relationship.” added Cllr Fleming.

The Jiangxi province is located in Eastern China to the south of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River with a total population of 45 million. It consists of 11 prefectural cities and 100 counties. County Wexford was the only location outside of Dublin visited by the delegation during their visit to Ireland.

The visiting delegation enjoyed a full day of meetings and visits across the county including the Danone Wexford where the group enjoyed a tour of the facility employing over 380 people in Wexford, and on a journey to net-zero emissions, Danone Wexford was of particular interest to the delegation, as a market leader in sustainability within the food manufacturing industry.

There was a visit to the CBS Secondary School in Wexford town, hosted by the Mayor of Wexford, Cllr John Hegarty and Principal, Michael McMahon to further enhance the links between CBS Wexford and China. The school features Chinese studies as part of the Transition Year curriculum and students from CBS have visited China on a number of occasions.

The delegation then travelled to Rosslare Europort where they were welcomed by Cllr Jim Moore, Cathaoirleach of Rosslare Municipal District and Senior Management of Rosslare Europort who outlined future growth plans for the Europort and proposed investment of circa-€440 million in expansion of facilities.