Taiwan is seeking joint ventures with US entrepreneurs, as part of its efforts to become a test center for electric vehicles, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday.
The ministry is hosting an automobile industry forum and exhibition today and tomorrow in Detroit to foster collaboration between US and Taiwanese automakers.
A delegation of business executives, led by Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Huang Chung-chiou (黃重球), left for Detroit on Saturday to attend the forum.
Prior to his departure, Huang said Taiwan was eyeing long-term development in its search for collaboration or joint-venture partnerships with major US automakers.
He said he would brief US auto giants GM and Ford on the business opportunities that will open up in Taiwan after a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China is signed.
At the forum, some 49 innovative products developed in Taiwan for assembled electric vehicles and key vehicle modules will be displayed to show potential investors Taiwan’s research and development achievements, he said.
“The two-day exhibition is expected to attract more than 100 North American auto executives,” Huang said.
Meanwhile, Lin Chuan-neng (林全能), deputy director of the ministry’s Department of Industrial Technology, said Taiwan has set its sights on the Chinese and US electric vehicle markets.
“We will focus on the fields in which we have a competitive edge, such as vehicle testing and examination and technological innovation,” Lin said.
Taiwan also hopes to become an electric vehicle testing and examination center for the China and US electric car markets, he said.
Twenty-eight local firms in the electric motorcycle, electric vehicle and battery industries have sent representatives to Detroit, Lin said.
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