In light of blossoming bilateral trade and economic exchanges, Taiwan is one of the UK’s “best trade partners,” President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, citing the opening of the Taiwanese market to British pork earlier this year.
Taiwan and the UK in June held discussions on potential bilateral cooperation in energy and agriculture for the first time, Tsai told a meeting with members of a British parliamentary delegation at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei.
The nation decided to open its market to British pork for the first time in August, which not only benefited British pig farmers, but also provided Taiwanese consumers with new options, Tsai added.
Visits by dignitaries and senior officials from the two sides have also increased, Tsai said, citing visits by UK Trade Envoy to Taiwan Richard Oliver Faulkner and UK Minister of State for Trade Policy George Hollingbery, as well as Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan’s (蘇嘉全) visit to London from July 18 to July 20.
The UK is Taiwan’s third-largest trading partner in Europe, while Taiwan is the UK’s eighth-largest trading partner in the Asia-Pacific region, with two-way trade totaling US$3.93 billion in the first eight months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 6 percent, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The UK is Taiwan’s second-largest source of capital from Europe with accumulated investment of US$9.19 billion as of the end of May, while Taiwanese investment in the UK totaled US$3.09 billion, official statistics showed.
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