Minister visits Mongolia to discuss business opportunities

Despite some setbacks because of a slowdown in China hitting exports, one of the world's fastest growing economies is Mongolia, where GDP is expected to expand by 13 per cent this year.

Trade and Development Minister Joe Costello became the first Irish Minister to visit the country last week when he attended an international conference in Ulan Bator as part of an Asian tour that also included China and Abu Dhabi.

New found wealth
He attended the 7th Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies, alongside Burmese opposition leader and democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, Thailand's prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, and EU high representative for foreign affairs and security, Catherine Ashton.

“There is a great sense of excitement about development and how to maximise newfound wealth from mineral extraction. It’s a country very much in transition,” said Mr Costello, who used the opportunity to discuss business opportunities for Ireland with Mongolia’s foreign minister, Luvsanvandan Bold.

“We discussed various commercial opportunities between the two countries, in areas including pharmaceuticals and education. We looked at how we might develop relations in terms of the state sector and the private sector. They are in need of expertise and they see us as a friendly country.”

Also on this visit, Mr Costello travelled to the northeastern port town of Dalian in China to officially launch the Puyang VanSun Tower, a €300 million, twin high-rise tower development in the new East Port area of downtown.

Irish architecture
Cork-based Wilson Architecture beat tough international competitors to win the contract to design the structures, which are possibly the two tallest buildings ever designed by an Irish architecture firm.

While in China, the Minister also discussed with authorities the possibility of forming an Irish chamber of commerce in China. This has long proven a challenge, as getting permission to set up such an organisation legally is difficult. Mr Costello said there remained legal areas to be cleared.