Tom Fleming
Question:722. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide a list of the memorandums of understanding with China; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49495/14]
View answerWednesday, 14 January 2015
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Ireland has many Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with China, signed by Ministers or senior officials, as appropriate, and their Chinese counterparts. These are wide-ranging and boost the bi-lateral relationship across a wide array of sectors. In the past ten years, the following MOUs have been signed:
On 9 December 2014, while accompanying the President on his State Visit to China, I signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a Framework for Jointly Enhancing People to People Exchanges and Co-Operation with the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. This MOU seeks to enhance research, education and technology links between Ireland and China. The MOU will support closer ties between cities in Ireland and China, as well as provincial and county ties. It is designed to promote joint research between Irish and Chinese universities and increase cooperation in education, science, technology, entrepreneurship as well as in agricultural, cultural and design fields. Exchanges between schools and youth groups from both countries will be encouraged.
This MOU builds on the Strategic Partnership for Mutually Beneficial Cooperation which was signed by the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny T.D., on 28 March 2012.
In June 2014, Minister Jimmy Deenihan T.D. in the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht signed an MOU on the establishment of a China Cultural Centre in Ireland.
On 16 April 2012, during his visit to China, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine, Simon Coveney T.D. signed three MOUs with China, namely: an MOU on sanitary and phyto-sanitary issues, including the setting up of a working group on market access on beef; an MOU on mutual cooperation in the agri-food and fisheries areas; MOU on the export of horse feed to China; and an MOU on renewal of Bovine Semen Protocol facilitating the export of Bovine semen to China.
Three MOUs with China were signed by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton T.D. in 2012: On 27 March 2012, an MOU on Scientific Innovation Cooperation and on 19 February 2012, he signed an MOU for the promotion of Trade in Internationally Traded Services and an MOU on the Establishment of a Joint Investment Promotion Working Group.
In March 2010, the then Minister of State for Trade and Commerce, Billy Kelleher T.D., signed an MOU on Economic Cooperation. An MOU on Cultural Cooperation and Exchange was signed by Mary Hanafin T.D., the then Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport. Lastly, an MOU on a Joint Working Group on Education was signed by the then Secretary General of the Department of Education and Science, Brigid McManus.
On 23 October 2008, two MOUs with China were agreed. The first was an MOU establishing an arrangement for the sharing of supervisory information and the enhancing of cooperation in the area of banking supervision, signed by the then Chairman of the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority, Jim Farrell. A second MOU regarding Securities and Futures Regulatory Cooperation was also signed by Mr Farrell on this date.
The then Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan T.D., signed a Protocol on veterinary and health requirements for pork to be exported from Ireland to China, on 18 January 2005.
An MOU with China was signed by Mr. Paul Bates, Assistant Secretary at the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism (as it then was) in 2004 on Visa and Related Issues concerning Tourist Groups from the People's Republic of China.