Taiwan and the EU are aiming to cooperate over online intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said on Friday.
Wang, who recently attended a Taiwan-EU economic and trade consultation conference in Brussels, said that EU officials at the meeting praised Taiwan’s achievements in IPR protection and expressed the hope that both sides would work more closely together at a time when the Internet is playing a bigger role in people’s daily lives.
EU officials said that due to Taiwan’s efforts on IPR protection, many European firms feel comfortable investing in the Taiwan market, Wang said.
As the EU has been impressed by Taiwan’s efforts, the European bloc has agreed to hold a bilateral consultation conference on IPR protection with Taipei once per year, compared with a frequency of twice per year in the past, she said.
The EU wants to work with Taiwan to carry out raids on cyberattacks against IPR, in a bid to provide enterprises with better protection, she said.
The economic and trade consultation meeting also addressed the possibility of Taiwan and the EU cooperating in a wide range of industries, such as offshore wind power development, “smart” machinery production and circular economy projects, Wang said.
A circular economy is an industrial economy that promotes greater resource productivity in order to reduce waste, avoid pollution and boost energy efficiency.
Taiwan is gearing up to develop its offshore wind power industry and as a result, several European industrial giants, including Siemens AG of Germany, DONG Energy AS of Denmark and France’s Eolfi SA, have expressed the willingness to invest in that sector in Taiwan, Wang said.
As for the circular economy, the EU sees the emerging industry as having great potential for growth and sees Taiwan developing downstream, midstream and upstream supply chains for the sector, Wang said, adding that both sides are looking forward to working together.
However, the EU expressed concerns over Taiwan’s quarantine procedures for agriculture and livestock product imports, saying that the process takes too long, and urging authorities to streamline the system, Wang said.
The ministry would inform the Council of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the EU’s concerns, Wang added.
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