President Ma Ying-jeou met with the Mayor of the City of Dallas, Texas, Tom Leppert and Mrs. Leppert on the afternoon of April 28 at the Presidential Office and extended a welcome to the couple on their visit to Taiwan.
President Ma noted that Dallas is the ninth largest city in the United States. It is a hub for the high-tech sector and is part of a metropolitan area that includes the neighboring city of Fort Worth and has a population of over six million people. Dallas is one of the most important cities in the southern part of the United States and it maintains a sister city arrangement with Taipei City. The president said that many mayors from Dallas have visited Taipei over the years and he is delighted to welcome Mayor Leppert and his delegation to Taiwan on this visit to attend the 2009 International Conference on Aerotropolis.
President Ma commented that Dallas is an important transshipment center in the southern part of the United States. Mayor Leppert has a thorough understanding of what an aerotropolis is, he said. The president said he hopes that in the future China Airlines or EVA Airways will be able to fly directly to Dallas from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. We would be pleased to see this kind of development and also hope to further foster relations between Taiwan and Dallas, he said. At present, annual trade between Dallas and Taiwan stands at about US$4 billion. This amount is larger than the volume of trade between Taiwan and many countries, thereby highlighting the economic strength of Dallas. President Ma said he is confident that there is even more room for development between the two sides.
The president told Mayor Leppert that the ROC (Taiwan) has approached the US government to seek visa-free courtesies for its nationals when they travel to the United States. Taiwan also is looking to sign an extradition treaty with the United States, he said. It is expected that these measures would promote more tourism to the United States and enable the repatriation of criminals who have fled to the United States from Taiwan. In addition, the ROC (Taiwan) also hopes that there will be an opportunity to sign a free trade agreement with the United States in the future, the president said. President Ma expressed Taiwan's desire to expand economic cooperation with nations throughout the world. It is with this in mind that Taiwan is pursuing an economic cooperation framework agreement with mainland China. This sort of agreement is expected to pave the way for the establishment of a free trade zone and further expand Taiwan's contacts with the rest of the world, he said.