Taiwan and Japan yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding to promote cooperation on issues between the customs offices of the Port of Keelung and Yokohama.
Taiwan-Japan Relations Association Chairman Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi signed the nonbinding agreement on behalf of their governments at the 47th annual Taiwan-Japan Economic and Trade Conference in Taipei.
The government-funded associations are charged with handling Taiwanese affairs in Japan and Japanese affairs in Taiwan respectively in the absence of official diplomatic relations.
Photo courtesy of Port of Keelung Taiwan International Ports Corp
Keelung Customs Office head Chen Shih-feng (陳世鋒) said that the memorandum would facilitate cooperation between the two sides and streamline customs clearance processes.
The countries also agreed to cooperate on combating trafficking and smuggling, sharing intelligence and addressing tariff issues, Chen said.
Speaking at the opening of the conference, Su said that Taiwan and Japan have made great strides on bilateral economic and trade cooperation in the past few years.
He reiterated the government’s call in asking Japan to support Taiwan’s bid to gain accession to the Tokyo-led Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Meanwhile, Ohashi said he was happy to see the annual conference return to Taipei for the first time in five years.
The last time the meeting was held in Taipei was in 2018. It was last year and early this year held in Tokyo after not being organized from 2020 to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He praised bilateral trade relations as “thriving” over the past few years, with two-way trade volume reaching a historical high of US$88.2 billion last year.
Ohashi said he hopes that the annual meeting, which has been held since 1976 and serves as an important communications platform, would continue to make contributions to the economic and trade ties between Tokyo and Taipei.
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