Vice President Vincent C. Siew on the afternoon of September 17 at the Presidential Building met with Ms. Alice Cawte, the new Representative of the Australian Commerce & Industry Office. The two exchanged opinions on a wide range of bilateral economic and trade topics.
Vice President Siew said that he trusts Ms. Cawte is quite busy during this period as she takes up her new post as Representative of the Australian Commerce & Industry Office. In the future, he said, he and Ms. Cawte will have opportunities to meet more frequently, enabling them to discuss trade and economic topics pertaining to the two countries. Vice President Siew extended a warm welcome to Representative Cawte on taking up her new position here and for coming to visit him.
The vice president said that relations between Australia and Taiwan are extremely close, especially in the areas of economy, trade, culture and education. He mentioned that he has a special relationship with Australia, noting that during his tenure as Economics Minister, in 1991 and 1992 he became the first ministerial-level official from the ROC to visit Australia. Vice President Siew said he received a warm reception from the Australian government and chamber of commerce. He added that in Canberra he met with a number of persons in the political and economic spheres, and in-depth discussions were held on the establishment of representative offices by each country in the other. He said that other issues discussed included aviation rights and how to strengthen economic and cultural cooperation. These talks helped to pave the way for the smooth development of bilateral exchanges and interaction in the following years.
Representative Cawte thanked Vice President Siew for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with her. She commented that Taiwan’s economic development has won the attention of countries throughout the world. She said that economic & trade, academic and cultural interaction between Taiwan and Australia is already quite close. In the future, she said she will work to continue to strengthen cooperative relations between the two countries.
Representative Cawte was accompanied to the Presidential Building in the afternoon to meet with Vice President Siew by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs David Y. L. Lin.