Gordon Orr on China, Ireland matters

McKinsey director Gordon Orr was in Dublin last month for the first time in two decades for a session with the Institute of International and European Affairs.

Orr's annual predictions about China are required reading and he had some interesting things to say about both China and Ireland.

In his blog about the event, Orr noted how Ireland is one of the very few European countries which runs a trade surplus with China, and he focused on agricultural opportunities, where he thinks there are serious opportunities for expansion.

“China’s demand for milk products is not going to abate and imports will be central long into the future. Attracting Chinese investors and partners to leverage Irish heritage and quality should be a truly winning combination,” he said.

As more and more of China’s private sector leaders move internationally and more of them seek investment opportunities in value added agriculture, this should be a real window of opportunity for Ireland to increase inbound investment and exports at the same time.

When it comes to growing Chinese tourism into Ireland, two basic markers were not yet in place.

“Leading hotels don’t yet all offer Chinese breakfast options, and while it is under discussion, there are still no direct flights. My discussion partners were disappointed that they had been told a flight from Dublin to Beijing would not be allowed,” he said.

The new British Airways flight to Chengdu had opened up a whole population to direct flights to the UK and was proving very successful, he said.

It matters less which city direct flights come from – the debate is currently Shanghai versus Beijing. “Indeed, for Ireland, a connection to a major agricultural processing hub might be even more attractive than to one of the tier one cities,” he pointed out.