New Southbound Policy Portal
President Tsai Ing-wen said July 30 that the government it committed to expanding Taiwan-U.K. exchanges across a broad spectrum of potential-laden areas such as artificial intelligence, renewable energy and trade.
Cooperation between the like-minded partners has delivered impressive results over the past few years, Tsai said. The Taiwan-U.K. Innovative Industries Researcher Placement Scheme is one such shining example, she added.
Launched in March 2018, the U.K. government-funded initiative aims to enhance bilateral R&D exchanges in innovative industries. It enables top Taiwan talents to carry out cutting-edge research at British universities and labs in core fields like aging society, AI and data, clean growth and the future of mobility.
Tsai made the remarks while meeting with Baroness D’Souza, a member of the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group, U.K. House of Lords Deputy Speaker Baroness Garden of Frognal and Lord Best. The parliamentarians are in Taiwan on a six-day cultural, economic and political fact-finding trip.
According to Tsai, the healthy state of Taiwan-U.K. relations is further illustrated by the increasing number of reciprocal visits made by senior officials and lawmakers. These include three trips by British parliamentary groups to Taiwan in 2018, as well as those by Science and Technology Minister Chen Liang-gee in April and Legislative Yuan President Su Jia-chyuan in July 2018.
Trade is another high point of two-way ties, Tsai said. The U.K. is the country’s third-largest trading partner in Europe, and last year British shipments to Taiwan surged 40 percent making it the second fastest-growing market worldwide, she added.
Based on this rock-solid foundation and shared values of freedom, democracy and rules-based order, Tsai said she believes both sides should fast-track talks on a bilateral trade or investment agreement so as to strengthen respective economic development while sowing the seeds for lasting prosperity.
Tsai also took the opportunity to thank on behalf of the government and the people the members of the House of Lords for consistently supporting Taiwan’s participation in international organizations. (SFC-E)
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