Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Francis Liang (梁國新) led a delegation to India yesterday to discuss the feasibility of a free-trade agreement (FTA) with officials and an influential think tank.
Liang will be in India for a week meeting researchers from the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), a non-profit organization, whose findings influence the Indian government’s economic policies.
Asked about the progress of a Taiwan-India FTA evaluation report, Liang told the Central News Agency that “the report is still in progress” and that it would be “unnatural” if the contents of the report were omitted from his discussions.
The delegation led by Liang will be visiting New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai. The team will be joined by another investment delegation headed by Wayne Wu (吳文雅), deputy chairman of the Taiwan External Trade Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會), in Chennai to attend the annual Taiwan-India Industrial Trade Fair which opens tomorrow.
Ministry of Economic Affairs officials said investments made by Taiwanese companies — China Synthetic Rubber Corp (CSRC, 中國合成橡膠), Continental Engineering Corp (大陸工程) and Foxconn Technology Group (富士康) — represent three major investment projects in India.
Because India’s car industry is fairly advanced, US, South Korean and Japanese automakers all have successful operations in the country, ministry officials said.
Taiwanese car component manufacturers and assembly factories are now investing in India to get a hold of market share. One such company is Continental Carbon India, a subsidiary of CSRC, which is investing in the country through technical cooperations and producing important raw materials for tires, officials said.
Other Taiwanese companies that are interested in the market include China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), which is accompanying ministry officials on the trip to India. CSC plans to set up an office in the country, the officials said.
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