Lord Mayor of London Michael Bear, the de facto ambassador for all UK-based financial services, will visit Taiwan with a City of London business delegation from March 16 to March 19 to strengthen bilateral ties, the British trade office said yesterday.
Bear and delegation members will meet ranking officials from the central bank, the Financial Supervisory Commission and representatives from domestic financial institutions, David Campbell, director of the British Trade and Cultural Office, told a media briefing.
“[Bear’s] visit aims to deepen commercial relationships between the UK and Taiwan around financial and business services, urban regeneration, sustainable development and the low carbon agenda,” Campbell said. “Taiwan is an important market in the region and globally.”
Two-way trade between the two sides totaled NT$240 billion (US$8.09 billion) last year with UK exports to Taiwan recovering to NT$50.4 billion, an increase of 40 percent from the year-earlier level, Campbell said, citing figures released by the British Revenue and Customs department.
The UK’s main exports to Taiwan include electrical machinery, beverages, industrial machinery and equipment, medicine and pharmaceuticals.
Taiwanese exports to the UK saw an annual jump of 38 percent to NT$189.4 billion last year, as British firms resumed purchases of telecommunications equipment, electrical machinery and appliances, office machines and automatic data processing machines, Campbell said.
“These figures are purely those for visible trade,” he said. “Services figures take much longer to compile,” meaning actual trading volume could be bigger.
Bear is slated to give a keynote speech to a business audience on March 17 to explain how UK skills and expertise can complement Taiwan’s economic growth, he said.
The Lord Mayor will open a seminar on March 18 on green technology finance, from the role of investment, legal, consulting and accounting firms to support business services and banks investing in green projects, Campbell said.
“We hope that real progress can be made this year on market access issues to further boost trade between Taiwan and the UK,” he said.
During his visit, Bear will also be inaugurating the new offices of two UK infrastructure companies, Arup and Mott MacDonald, Campbell said.
The Lord Mayor of London is the appointed head of the City of London Corp, which provides local government services for the financial and commercial heart of Britain, generally referred to as the “Square Mile.” When traveling overseas, the Lord Mayor has the rank of a -Cabinet-level minister.
Many Taiwanese financial firms are represented in London, including Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行), Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行), Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐國際商銀), First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) and SinoPac Securities Co (永豐金證券).
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