Taiwan boosts business ties with emerging African economies

2016/07/25

The Africa Business Forum and B2B Meeting was staged July 20 in Taipei City by the Taiwan-Africa Trade Promotion Office under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, with more than 80 Taiwan companies and buyers from six African countries signing orders worth over US$24 million.

The event, part of the government’s efforts to strengthen commercial links with Africa and enhance export diversification, was the first organized by the Taipei-headquartered TATPO since its establishment in mid-March this year.

“The face-to-face talks with the African buyers were really quite effective, so I hope to see more events like this organized in the future,” a participant from Taipei-based TECO Electric and Machinery Co. said.

On the same day, the government-supported Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations signed a memorandum of understanding on fostering business cooperation. The deal with ECCSA, which consists of 18 national, regional and municipal trade groups in Ethiopia, is expected to help facilitate trade missions between Taiwan and the African country, whose economy expanded by 9.6 percent last year.

According to Shaw Tsan-tsung, deputy executive director of TATPO, MOUs such as this can help Taiwan firms tap the enormous potential of the continent’s high-growth emerging markets. “Africa is home to many rapidly developing economies, while Taiwan needs to boost its sluggish exports,” he said.

Taiwan currently operates trade offices in five major economies across the continent, namely Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. In addition to exploring commercial opportunities in the nations where they are based, these offices are also responsible for building business links with neighboring countries.

TATPO, meanwhile, is responsible for identifying business promotion opportunities in four nations, Ethiopia, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia. Companies from all four took part in the B2B meeting in Taipei, and to date three of them, Ethiopia, Ghana and Morocco, have signed MOUs with TAITRA. In September, TATPO officials will lead a delegation of Taiwan companies to B2B meetings in all four countries.

Taiwan’s exports to Africa totaled US$2.4 billion in 2015, or less than 1 percent of the nation’s overall export volume. TATPO is targeting export growth to the continent of 15, 30 and 50 percent in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively, compared with the 2015 figures.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=246444&ctNode=2194&mp=9)