People play in a park in Dublin, Ireland, May 5, 2020. Ireland eased some of its lockdown measures introduced more than a month ago following the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. (Xinhua)

Ireland's open and diversified investment environment has accelerated direct investment from Asian companies, especially Chinese private companies, and the epidemic will not hamper investment from China, a senior executive from Investment Development Authority (IDA) Ireland said.

COVID-19 has had a negative impact on the world economy, slowing down global foreign direct investment flows. "But we can foresee that Chinese companies would continue investing in overseas markets, including Ireland," Zhang Zhewei, IDA China director, said in a note sent to the Global Times on Wednesday. 

"I would say more and more Chinese companies will choose Ireland not only for its market but to use it as their European headquarters or operations center, levering Ireland's business advantages in talent, technology, taxes" and other factors, he added. 

His comment came after the government work report submitted to China's national legislature for deliberation on Friday, which said that China will raise the level of its opening-up policy and stabilize foreign trade amid rising challenges.

The long-term diversified investment strategy has made Ireland's investment in Asia widely distributed in the fields of technology, software, life sciences, industrial automation, pharmaceuticals, and financial services, a report released by IDA Ireland showed on Friday. Industries such as technology and medicine have a strong influence against epidemics.

In the past five years, two-way trade between China and Ireland more than doubled. From 2007 to 2017, Ireland's two-way trade with the Asia-Pacific region more than doubled to 62 billion euros ($68.3 billion). From 2015 to 2019, the total investment of Chinese companies in Ireland reached $926 million, and maintained a sustained and healthy growth trend, according to data from IDA Ireland. 

Many financial enterprises are investing in Ireland, such as Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Bank of Communications. Areas such as financial services, life sciences and technology are also hot investment areas in the country.

WuXi Biologics opened its first overseas production base in Ireland in 2019, with an investment of 325 million euros, the largest green-field investment project in Ireland that year.

Ireland -- as the only English-speaking country in the euro-zone -- is a natural gateway for Chinese companies entering Europe, Zhang added. 

Global Times