Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin on Tuesday voiced his country's commitment to enhancing practical cooperation with China in key fields including artificial intelligence, agriculture, and education.
Speaking in an interview with China Media Group (CMG) during his Jan 4–8 visit, Martin said his talks, including a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, focused on reinforcing Ireland-China relations and placing EU-China ties on a firmer footing, particularly in addressing trade issues.
"I think, first of all, we admire the Chinese approach, the strategic approach that China takes in planning, particularly its five-year plans, and it generally executes those plans with precision. The areas that we have identified are where there is a degree of complementarity, we would be very interested in the AI revolution that is taking place in the world and how best to use apply that technology. We know China a leader now in AI, so we will be interested in working with China because we're a highly digitalized economy in Ireland. We are strong in technology. We have very strong human capital in AI, and so we believe there are synergies there," said Martin.
He expressed Ireland's particular interest in deepening collaboration within agriculture—a cornerstone of the national economy—as well as in education.
The remarks followed an event hosted earlier in the day by the Irish Embassy in Beijing, which showcased a range of bilateral cooperation achievements and highlighted the latest progress in higher education collaboration between the two countries.
"Agriculture and food remain a core industry in Ireland. We have probably one of the most carbon efficient modern food production systems in the world, both beef and dairy and pig meat and so on, and poultry. So therefore, there are opportunities there, given the size of the market in China and the quality of Irish produce, because it's grass based, it's pasture based. The other area that we feel is education. I was very interested today, I witnessed the signature of quite a number of agreements between Chinese universities and Irish universities, many of the problems delivered here in China. There's up to 12,000 students now participating in these joint programs," said Martin.
In recent years, joint educational programs between the two sides have maintained steady growth. Data showed that the total number of joint education institutions and programs reached 110 by July 2025, with over 12,000 students currently enrolled.
Irish PM looks forward to strengthened cooperation with China in AI, agriculture, education
