The government is committed to promoting free-trade agreements, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on Thursday, expressing the hope that such an accord would be signed with the UK.
As a major player in various industry supply chains around the world, Taiwan has plenty of opportunities to cooperate with the UK in traditional and innovative industries, Tsai told a delegation of British lawmakers led by Lord David Steel, co-chair of the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group of the UK Parliament.
Based on their shared values, Taiwan-UK exchanges have grown stronger as shown by a series of visits by British officials last year, Tsai said.
They included Lord Mayor of the City of London Jeffrey Mountevans; British Minister of State for Trade and Investment Greg Hands; the British prime minister’s trade envoy to Taiwan Richard Faulkner; and UK Special Representative for Climate Change David King, Tsai said.
In terms of parliamentary exchanges, three groups of British lawmakers visited Taiwan last year, while a delegation of Taiwanese legislators paid a visit to the UK in September last year, Tsai said.
Trade and investment are the most important aspects of bilateral relations between the two nations, she added.
As one of the nation’s major trade partners and fifth-largest source of investment, the UK is important for Taiwan’s continued economic development, she said.
At a time when the UK is seeking to bolster ties with other nations as it prepares to withdraw from the EU, Taiwan’s key role in global supply chains presents multiple opportunities for cooperation with UK businesses, she said.
The UK was the first nation in Europe to grant visa-free treatment to Taiwanese, Tsai said, adding that she hopes the two nations would continue to deepen bilateral ties.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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