A leading figure in the Chinese business community said yesterday that Irish companies should be bidding to take part in infrastructure projects worth billions of euro in China.
Wan Jifei, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), told the Minister for Enterprise, Micheál Martin, that Irish companies should tender for major building projects in China and particularly the capital, Beijing.
The city is currently gearing up to host the 2008 Olympic Games and the World Expo in 2010, which means that it has to carry out major development work ahead of those dates. Mr Jifei said it was open to Irish firms to tender for these projects.
Mr Martin said yesterday that trade between the Republic and China was worth €3.9 billion a year, and 60 Irish companies were now operating there.
Yesterday, he opened an incubation centre in Enterprise Ireland's Beijing offices, where four organisations have established offices: Tourism Ireland, NUI Maynooth, Infocel and Keyland.
