China plans to seek a larger role in the Arctic during Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to four European countries, with Sweden supporting its bid to become a permanent observer at the eight-member Arctic Council. Deputy Foreign Minister Song Tao said China had economic and scientific interests in the Arctic and would strengthen cooperation with Arctic countries. He added China wanted to explore geothermal energy and study the North Pole and northern lights. Wen began a week-long visit to Iceland, Germany, Sweden and Poland on April 20. Besides an Arctic cooperation agreement, the two sides signed five other accords with 11 Ministers and Vice Ministers accompanying the Chinese leader. Iceland is the first European country to recognize China’s full market economy status and the first European country to start FTA talks with China. Wen’s visit is the first by a Chinese Premier since China and Iceland established diplomatic relations in 1971. China sees Iceland as its “primary partner” in geothermal energy. Iceland’s Orka Energy signed a deal with China Petrochemical Corporation of the Sinopec Group on using geothermal energy in China for heating homes and generating electricity. Other agreements cover marine and polar science, and technology and solar energy. Next stop on Premier Wen Jiabao’s schedule is a visit to the Hannover Messe.

Chinese President Hu Jintao met U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders at the  Seoul Nuclear Security Summit. Hu told Obama that problems in the U.S. economy were not caused by China’s exchange rate regime and further appreciation of the yuan would not solve them. President Hu Jintao called on the international community to support the development of emerging markets as he arrived in New Delhi for a BRICS summit, at which Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa pledged closer economic cooperation. At a trade ministers’ meeting held on the sidelines of the summit, Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said he expected China’s economic growth to exceed the government’s 7.5% target this year, and that China would help the U.S. and Europe tackle their financial crises. The central banks of the BRICS countries signed agreements to extend lines of credit in local currencies. Hu Jintao also visited Cambodia, where he pledged to double bilateral trade to USD5 billion and announced fresh aid.

China and Ireland signed a number of deals to promote cooperation in science, trade and investments, during the visit of Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny to Beijing. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said China welcomes Ireland’s new Asia strategy, in which China is its primary partner. Wen also expressed the hope that the EU could start negotiations on an investment agreement with China as soon as possible to provide a legal guarantee for investment between China and the EU. The trade volume between China and Ireland hit USD5.87 billion in 2011, an 8.6% increase over the previous year. “Bilateral trade and investment volume is comparatively small, but has been growing swiftly in recent years,” Wang Zhanpeng, Director of the Irish Studies Center at the Beijing Foreign Studies University said. “The prospect of substantial Chinese investment in Ireland, possibly including the purchase of Irish state assets, has increased,” the Irish Times reported. But recent Irish statistics don’t look promising. GDP fell 0.2% in the October-December quarter. Irish GDP has fallen for three straight years: 3% in 2008, 7% in 2009 and 0.4% in 2010. But Prime Minister Kenny said that confidence is returning to the Irish economy.

China and Indonesia signed agreements on a range of issues and entrepreneurs also signed trade agreements worth more than USD17 billion, covering projects in the fields of iron and steel, textile manufacturing, hydroelectric generation, mining and agriculture. The deals were signed as President Hu Jintao met Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Beijing. Yudhoyono said he was confident that the two countries will achieve the goal of boosting bilateral trade to USD80 billion before 2015. Bilateral trade in 2011 was about USD60 billion. The deals included a technical cooperation agreement between Indonesia’s state-owned steel company PT Krakatau and Capital Engineering and Research, and a USD200 million long-term credit deal to finance the construction of a Krakatau blast furnace complex. Indonesia’s PT Bangungraha Sejahtera Mulia and China Railway Corporation signed a joint investment agreement for infrastructure development.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping paid a three-day visit to Ireland following his U.S. trip. In Dublin, he met Irish President Michael Higgins and Prime Minister Enda Kenny, and attended a trade and investment forum involving around 250 Irish and Chinese companies. Kenny said both countries understood the need to reform and innovate. “Just as China has transformed itself in its recent history, so too has Ireland,” he said. A joint investment promotion group was set up between China and Ireland. The total value of Chinese investment in Ireland is now USD148 million. Three deals were signed on promoting trade, services and boosting cooperation in higher education between the Beijing Technology University and University College Dublin. Bilateral trade reached USD5.87 billion in 2011, an increase of 8.6% from 2010. As the only English speaking country in the eurozone, and a country with a low corporate tax rate of 12.5%, Ireland is an ideal place for Chinese investors to access Europe, said Kevin Lynch, founder of the law firm Clerkin Lynch and Chairman of the Ireland China Association. On the final stop of his trip, Xi Jinping met Turkish President Abdullah Gul in Ankara and attended a business forum in Istanbul. Several bilateral economic agreements were signed, as well as a CNY10 billion three-year currency swap deal. Trade between the two countries totaled almost USD25 billion last year and both nations aim to double that by 2015, with a further increase to USD100 billion by 2020. Turkish imports of Chinese products accounted for USD21 billion, while exports to China amounted to only USD3 billion.