The Vietnamese government hopes that Taiwan’s “new southbound policy” will increase Taiwanese investments in the nation as it boosts infrastructure development to support economic growth, Vietnam’s representative to Taiwan said.
The policy is mutually beneficial, Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei Representative Tran Duy Hai said, and Vietnam is interested in establishing closer cooperation with Taiwan and attracting more investment from Taiwanese businesses.
Vietnam is especially seeking investment in infrastructure development and hopes to learn from Taiwan’s experience in building freeways, railways and metro systems as well as implementing high-tech farming, Tran said in an interview with the Central News Agency.
Photo: CNA
The policy is aimed at establishing closer economic ties with ASEAN members and India to reduce the nation’s economic dependence on China.
Tran said the policy has already encouraged more people from Southeast Asia to visit Taiwan by relaxing visa requirements for people in the region, adding that he expects visitor numbers to rise sharply.
The increased number of flights between Vietnam and Taiwan, at about 200 weekly, will boost mutual exchanges, Tran added.
Tran voiced a positive view of overall investment, trade and people-to-people relations between Taiwan and Vietnam.
Bilateral relations between the two nations have been improving since the 1990s and Taiwan is Vietnam’s fourth-largest source of foreign investment, with US$32 billion worth of investment, Tran said.
Taiwan is Vietnam’s fifth-largest trade partner, and bilateral trade last year reached US$12 billion and is continuing to rise, he added.
Taiwan is also home to the largest overseas Vietnamese population in the world, Tran said.
About 300,000 Vietnamese live in Taiwan, including 100,000 who are married to Taiwanese, 180,000 workers and 5,000 students; and about 30,000 Taiwanese live in Vietnam, including 6,000 businesspeople.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS