Chinese deputy premier Zeng Peiyan will meet the President, Taoiseach and the Tánaiste during a three-day visit to Ireland this week.
Mr Zeng arrived at Shannon yesterday and visited Bunratty Castle before touring the factories of Westpark Shannon and Sercom Solutions.
He will meet Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Tánaiste Michael McDowell in Dublin today.
Mr Zeng will sign co-operative agreements between China and Ireland in the areas of agriculture and education at Government Buildings.
After paying a courtesy call on President Mary McAleese at Áras an Uachtaráin tomorrow, he will attend a business breakfast hosted by Enterprise Ireland. He is also due to visit the Confucius Institute at UCD before travelling to Cork to the Tyndall National Institute. He will depart from Cork tomorrow evening.
Limited details of Mr Zeng's itinerary have been released by the Foreign Affairs Department to discourage protests that have occurred in the past.
Aid agency GOAL has called on Mr Ahern to raise the issue of China's policy on Darfur with Mr Zeng.
"Mr Ahern should impress on Mr Zeng that the Irish people are appalled at the fact that China is using its Security Council veto to block the deployment of peacekeepers in Darfur," said GOAL director John O'Shea.
"There has been a singular absence of moral courage on the part of the international community in relation to Darfur. Here, Ireland is now given the opportunity to take a moral stand. We should show the world that we have the courage to do so."