The government has launched a sales-promotion program targeting South Korea to continue its efforts to improve Taiwan's huge trade deficit with that country, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) officials said yesterday.
Taiwan has an unfavorable trade balance with South Korea, with the amount standing at US$4.32 billion as of September this year and becoming the second largest source of Taiwan's trade deficit, according to MOEA statistics.
The ministry started a program to "strengthen trade with South Korea" early this year by organizing a series of fact-finding missions.
Major industrial associations also jointly established a Taiwan-South Korea trade and economic friendship club in October to try to strengthen bilateral exchanges.
MOEA officials said this program has produced significant results, with Taiwan's exports to South Korea posting an average monthly growth of 30 percent from April to September this year.
In order to keep up with these efforts, the ministry has worked out the sales-promotion program, which will cover measures such as setting up a "Korean task force" and "Korean desk" at the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) to assist South Korean buyers, they said.
TAITRA staff will visit the Taiwan offices of major South Korean manufacturers such as Samsung and LG to facilitate their procurements in Taiwan, the officials said. They said the ministry will also organize trade-promotion tours to South Korea, which will join members of the automobile, mobile phone and sports equipment sectors.
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