Taiwan-UK trade talks wrap up in Taipei

2022/11/14

The 25th edition of the annual Taiwan-U.K. Trade Talks wrapped up Nov. 9 in Taipei City, with the two partners pledging to forge even stronger economic ties going forward, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
 
Convened by Deputy MOEA Minister Chen Chern-chyi and U.K. Trade Policy Minister Greg Hands, the event was the first such to take place in person since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and reflects the importance the U.K. places on trade relations with Taiwan, the ministry added.
 
During his opening remarks, Chen said tremendous progress has been achieved under the platform, citing the official signing last month of an aviation safety working agreement that was discussed during the trade talks in 2021.
 
In response, Hands said he expects the discussions on bilateral trade policy and supply chain cooperation to further bolster strategic cooperation between the two sides.
 
According to the ministry, the two sides covered a wide range of issues of mutual interest during the meeting. These included agriculture, business networking, 5G telecommunications, economic resilience, electric vehicles, energy, financial services, medicine and semiconductors.
 
Another highlight of the daylong event was the conclusion of a memorandum of understanding to foster innovation, with the U.K. pledging to provide 5 million pounds sterling to sponsor related research projects by 2025.
 
Official statistics show two-way trade totaled US$5.03 billion from January to September 2022, up 7.9 percent from the prior year. The U.K. is Taiwan’s third-largest trading partner in Europe and a leading source of foreign investment, which totaled US$11.41 billion as of the end of September, second only to the Netherlands. 


Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)