On 8 October, Consul General Li Nan met with Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, exchanging views on further strengthening bilateral cultural and artistic exchanges and cooperation.

Consul General Li noted, in May Hard Rain Soloist Ensemble participated in the Beijing Modern Music Festival. In October, Lonesome George Band will be invited by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles to attend the 13^th China International Folk Art Festival. The China Folk Literature and Art Association will dispatch intangible cultural heritage inheritors to visit Belfast, presenting traditional intangible cultural heritage works. The China Artist Residency Program is progressing steadily. The Consulate General is willing to strengthen communication and cooperation with the Arts Council, continuously enriching the connotations of cultural, artistic, and tourism cooperation between China and Northern Ireland.

McDonough said that the Arts Council will fully exert its advantages and actively promote institutional cooperation and personnel exchanges between the cultural and artistic establishments of Northern Ireland and China, facilitating a new level of people-to-people exchanges between Northern Ireland and China.