The European Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (ECCT) yesterday said it expects the EU and other countries to start negotiations on signing free-trade pacts with Taiwan after the country inks an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, the chamber’s chairman said yesterday.
“From a business and economic point of view, we continue to stress the importance of free-trade agreements with Taiwan,” the chamber’s new chairman, Nicholas Winsor, told reporters yesterday.
Winsor, who is also chief executive officer of HSBC Taiwan, said that the chamber understands there exist political complications and time-consuming preparations for countries to facilitate free-trade deals with Taiwan.
However, if progress fails to be made, he said that “we will continue to bang on the doors” of authorities, including those at home and Brussels-based European Commission representatives.
The chamber sends delegates from its Open Door Mission to Brussels on a yearly basis to lobby for the EU to accelerate the initiation of trade enhancement measures with Taiwan, which hopefully will lay the foundation for a free-trade pact.
The local economy will be greatly disadvantaged since 96 percent of South Korea’s Europe-bound exports will soon enjoy tariff-free treatment there after the EU ratifies its FTA with the nation’s neighboring rival economy, Winsor said.
Within the next five years, 99 percent of South Korea’s exports to the EU will be tariff free, while more than 50 percent of Taiwan’s exports to the EU are still subject to tariffs, he added.
He further reiterated the chamber’s support behind the nation’s planned inking of an ECFA with China, saying that “any economic isolation or economic marginalization will be bad for the local economy.”
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