THE CHINESE company CIRS (Chemical Inspection and Regulation Service) will confirm today it is to establish its European headquarters in Dundalk, Co Louth.

It will hire 26 staff over the next year and is the second Chinese company to locate in Ireland, and in Dundalk, with the support of the Government through IDA Ireland.

CIRS is based in the Chinese city of Hangzhou and also has offices in the US. It is a regulatory affairs company and provides chemical consulting services to non-EU manufacturers including compliance with EU chemical regulations. The Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern is to announce the investment in Dundalk this morning.

Last year SATIR, an infrared technology company from China announced it was locating its European base in Dundalk with the creation of 40 jobs. The IDA has been courting Chinese companies to locate in Ireland and Taoiseach Brian Cowen led a trade mission to the country last October.

Separately, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao has said China’s economy was performing “better than expected” and the country’s stimulus package was working.

But he cautioned that complete recovery would take more time because the global financial crisis was continuing to spread.

Mr Wen, who is China’s leader with responsibility for economic issues, was speaking at the Boao Forum, an annual gathering of government and business leaders on the tropical southern island province of Hainan.

Mr Wen pledged to get economic growth back on track by further boosting domestic demand, building major infrastructure projects, finding jobs for college students and improving the social safety net.

“We should not lose sight of the fact that the international financial crisis is still spreading, the basic trend of world economic recession is not reversed,” he told hundreds of delegates gathered at the forum, which is essentially the Asian equivalent of the annual Davos forum in Switzerland.

The Boao forum attracted more than 800 people, including former US president George W Bush, Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari and Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen.

However, Mr Wen went on to say that problems in the world’s financial system remained unresolved. He was confident China could overcome the crisis but warned that global economic recovery will be a “long and tortuous process.”

Representing Ireland at the forum was Ambassador Declan Kelleher.

“A major message from the forum is that innovation is crucial for sustainable growth. There is great scope for co-operation between Ireland and China as China continues to move up the value chain in its growth model and great scope for more trade,” said Mr Kelleher.