A proposed trade enhancement mechanism is not expected to be discussed at this year’s trade consultations between Taiwan and the EU, which are set to open today in Brussels, according to the office of the EU Trade Commissioner.
The trade enhancement mechanism (TEM), tantamount to a free-trade agreement, was proposed by the European Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (ECCT) earlier this year.
The office, however, said yesterday that the EU would not rule out the possibility of improving its trade and investment relations with Taiwan under the existing framework.
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Sheng-chung (林聖忠), who will head the Taiwanese delegation to the consultations, said that now is not the right time for Taiwan to propose an economic cooperation agreement with the EU.
Lin was in Brussels to attend a seminar titled “EU Trade Policy toward Asia: The Role of Taiwan” sponsored by the European Centre for International Political Economy, an independent think tank, as a prelude to the annual Taiwan-EU consultations.
He said Taiwan would propose increased bilateral cooperation in the fields of customs, quarantine inspection and e-business.
ECCT chairman Nicholas Winsor said in January that the chamber would push for a -Taiwan-EU TEM, and he urged Taiwan to work out reciprocal tariff concession measures with the EU as soon as possible.
According to the ECCT chief, South Korea has concluded a free-trade agreement with the EU that will give 96 percent of South Korea’s products shipped to the EU tariff-exempt treatment.
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