Inaugural Europe Fair wraps up in Taipei City

2016/05/10

The inaugural Europe Fair wrapped up May 8 at Taipei Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, underscoring the strength of Taiwan-EU ties across such areas as culture, education, research and technology.

Staged by the Republic of China (Taiwan) Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Economic and Trade Office in Taipei and Taipei City Government, the three-day event attracted around 30,000 attendees.

The representative offices of 13 EU states, including Belgium, Italy, Germany, Spain and the U.K., took part in the fair. Their official presences were complemented by fine dining events, performances and tourism seminars, as well as privately run booths offering European food and wine.

MOFA Minister David Y. L. Lin said at the launch of the event that it will help Taiwan people better understand the EU and bring the two sides closer together, especially in economic and trade relations. He credited the Schengen visa-waiver program as one of the main reasons for the region’s growing popularity as a destination for arrivals from Taiwan.

On Jan. 11, 2011, Taiwan was admitted to the list of countries whose citizens enjoy visa-free access to the Schengen Area, enabling them to visit 36 European countries and territories for up to 90 days without a visa. In 2015, people from Taiwan made 161,529 visits, up 20.83 percent from the year before, according to the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.

EETO Head Madeleine Majorenko said she expects the fair to become an annual festival for the people of Taiwan, and a platform for sharing EU founding values like democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law. “That’s why we want to celebrate this special day with our friends here,” Majorenko said, adding that Taiwan-EU relations are “excellent” and both sides can do more to promote the partnership.

According to the EETO, the event is part of worldwide celebrations for May 9 Europe Day, which doubles as the EU’s birthday. It reflects the growing importance the EU places on Taiwan, when it comes to strengthening cooperation and exchanges across a broad spectrum of areas.

Education is one such area. The EU is the second most popular destination for Taiwan students studying abroad after the U.S. And the annual European Education Fair in Taiwan is the largest event of its kind organized by the EU in the Asia-Pacific. Trade ties are another, with the bilateral relationship growing 9.4 percent to 43.9 billion euros (US$50.1 billion) in 2015. In addition, the EU is Taiwan’s leading source of direct foreign investment.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=244492&ctNode=2194&mp=9)