Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern swept into Shanghai with a 200-member trade delegation, the country's largest ever to visit the city.
It was a busy trip, as Ahern met with Shanghai's mayor, launched a new sister city plan, addressed an audience at Fudan University and presided over a contract signing for a food plant in nearby Hangzhou.
He even found time to speak to hundreds of people who showed up for a Shanghai Center concert of Irish music.
"It's an exciting time for Irish people and the Irish community living here in Shanghai," he said.
During a noon meeting with Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng, both leaders said they would encourage greater business cooperation between the city and the emerald isle.
Han noted that Sino-Irish trade through Shanghai port increased more than 60 percent last year.
In a news conference yesterday afternoon, Ahern stressed that the imminent sister-city status between Shanghai and the Irish city of Cork will greatly enhance their ties in culture, education, business, tourism and especially in the shipping trade, since both cities operate globally important ports.
Speaking at Fudan University yesterday morning, the Irish leader praised China as "a first-class economic power."
"It is difficult to recall a time in the past century when the future of China held so much promise," he told the students.
After the speech, Fudan University's law school and Dublin's Trinity College signed an agreement under which Fudan will send top legal scholars to attend a master's program at the Irish university.
In the evening, the prime minister attended a signing ceremony during which the Kerry Group - a top international ingredients, flavors and consumer foods producer - invested 20 million euros (US$26 million) to establish a manufacturing, administrative and processing facility in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, by acquiring the Hangzhou Lanli Food Industry Company Ltd.
Ahern is scheduled to leave Shanghai for Hong Kong this afternoon as he continues his six-day visit to China.