Shanghai seeks to forge new links with Cork

The Mayor of Shanghai said his city is open to forging new cultural, technological, and research links across Ireland following the success of his city’s twinning link with Cork.

Mr Yang Xiong, who oversees a economic powerhouse of some 25m people and who normally only meets heads of state, was speaking yesterday as he hosted Cork’s Lord Mayor Chris O’Leary at Shanghai City Hall.

He said reforms in the China Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) — a project launched in 2013 to test the waters for financial reforms as part of new government policies which are leading towards the internationalisation of the yuan currency — offer enormous opportunities for Ireland.