President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of June 8 with Dr. Sanjaya Baru, Editor of India's Business Standard newspaper, and extended a warm welcome to Dr. Baru on behalf of the government and people of the ROC.
The president commented that he visited India in June 2007 and that India's rapid economic growth, progress in the development of its information technology sector, growth in consumption power, and its increasingly important role on the global economic stage made a deep impression on him. Over the past year, quite a few important individuals from India, including parliamentarians, foreign affairs officials, scholars from think tanks, and government officials dealing with the ICT industry have visited Taiwan, he stated. In January of this year, the president said, Taiwan's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lyushun Shen (沈呂巡) led a delegation to India, and in late February Minister of the Council for Economic Planning and Development Christina Y. Liu (劉憶如) led a delegation of over 90 individuals to India to solicit investment from that nation and to understand the investment environment there. In May, he noted, Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji (吳清基) headed a delegation of scholars from Taiwan to India where they reached an agreement with counterparts. In the future, the Indian government will sponsor a large number of young people to come to study in Taiwan, the president said. These developments point to a continued warming of bilateral relations, he stated, adding that economic, trade, cultural, and educational ties are all moving in a positive direction.
President Ma stated that both India and Taiwan advocate democracy, freedom, rule of law, and human rights. The president pointed out that last year the volume of trade between Taiwan and India reached US$6.4 billion, which was a significant increase from previous years. He expressed his hope that the trend will continue, and that Taiwan will also be able to establish closer ties with India and other emerging economies. President Ma furthermore remarked that last June Taiwan and mainland China signed the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, in the wake of which India has expressed a willingness to discuss a free trade agreement with Taiwan. The president noted that think tanks in Taiwan are currently examining the feasibility of this idea. Meanwhile, Taiwan is willing to send Chinese-language teachers to high schools in India to support their plans to offer Chinese classes. President Ma said he hopes that interaction on many different levels will help to forge a win-win situation for both sides.
The president furthermore stated that India this year has gained a seat on the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member for a period of two years. At the same time, it has adopted a Look East Policy, seeking to establish more friendly and cooperative relationships with East Asian and Southeast Asian nations. President Ma expressed his confidence that India in the future will play an even more important role in the international arena.
Dr. Baru was accompanied to the Presidential Office by India-Taipei Association Director General Mr. Pradeep Kumar Rawat and Government Information Office Vice Minister George Hsu (許秋煌) to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Advisor Tung Kuo-yu (董國猷).