“The CIIE is a great opportunity for companies to exhibit their products and services, but also a great opportunity to meet various interested parties and showcase what Cork city has to offer as a destination to live, work, invest and study,” said Lord Mayor John Sheehan of Cork City Council, who was invited to attend the import expo being held in Shanghai.

(Cork City Council Lord Mayor John Sheehan)

It is John Sheehan’s first visit to Shanghai since he took office. Due to the impact of Brexit, the number of Irish companies in this year’s CIIE is smaller, and currently there are no Cork companies participating. Nevertheless, Mr. Sheehan is very positive about the future.“We hope that in future CIIE expos, we can engage with external stakeholders in collaboration with our national export agency, Enterprise Ireland, and develop and bring a larger delegation.”

Despite being small, the delegation is having a fruitful harvest in Shanghai.“In the Cork City Council delegation to Shanghai, we have the Cork Chamber of Commerce which represents businesses within the city and we have the Tyndall National Institute which is one of the leading research facilities in Ireland,” he added.

With the help of the Ireland China Science and Technology Association (ICSTA, the official organizer of CIIE to Ireland), the Cork City delegation attended a China-Ireland Business Conference on November 4, where Cork organizations like Tyndall National Institute and Nimbus Research Centre met their Shanghai counterparts and local government officials to seek future cooperation. The next day, they also visited Shanghai University’s incubator “Innocare” and discussed R&D cooperation in medical devices. On Day 3, Mr. Sheehan met Wang Xiquan, chief supervisor of the Bank of China, exploring future cooperation.

(Cityscape of Cork City)

CIIE, in Mr. Sheehan’s opinion, is not only an occasion for Cork companies to display their products and services, but it will also enable those companies to grow and develop the excellent relationship between Cork and Shanghai/China.

As the second largest city in Ireland, Cork is a place with both heritage and innovation, enjoying specialty industries like medical devices, pharmacy and ICT (Information and Communication Technology).

The Shanghai-Cork sister city relationship, established in 2005, has been going strong for years. While delivering a speech in Shanghai on November 5, Mr. Sheehan mentioned Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong’s visit to Cork in 2017, when the two sides signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the Future Development of the Sister City Relationship (2017 – 2022). In particular, the two cities decided to join hands in innovation and entrepreneurship.