President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of January 3 with a delegation led by the French National Assembly's France-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group Chairman Francois Brottes. The president welcomed the delegation to Taiwan on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, and commented on the success of bilateral ties in the areas of economic and trade relations, education, technology, and culture.
In remarks, President Ma noted that the French National Assembly's France-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group was established in 1989, and in the 24 years since its founding has continuously sought to expand friendship between the two countries. In particular, the president stated, Parliamentary Friendship Group Chairman Brottes previously visited Taiwan in 2008 and 2009, and on this trip is leading four French National Assembly members on their first visit to Taiwan. The president said he is delighted to see these new faces. In addition, President Ma also expressed his congratulations to the Socialist Party, of which Chairman Brottes is a member, for winning the French presidential and parliamentary elections last year, ushering in a new era for France.
President Ma remarked that Taiwan and France not only share the core values of freedom, democracy, human rights, and rule of law, but also maintain close relations in the fields of education, technology, and culture. He pointed out that over 200 cooperative agreements have been signed between higher educational institutions of the two countries, while the two sides also maintain technological cooperation on over 250 projects, making France Taiwan's second largest partner in technology behind only the United States. President Ma stated that each year approximately 40 French films are screened in Taiwan, the highest in Asia. In addition, throughout all of Asia, only Singapore and Taiwan's National Library of Public Information established a French Corner .
With respect to economic and trade relations, President Ma stressed, France is Taiwan's fifth largest trading partner in Europe, yet consultations on bilateral trade and economic issues are not held on a regular or systematic basis. He said that holding such consultations on an annual basis, with the possibility of increasing the frequency as appropriate, would promote the development of bilateral trade and investment, which in turn would enable relations between the two countries to become even closer.
The president pointed out that Taiwan in recent years has signed youth working holiday agreements with Germany, the UK, and Ireland. Moreover, he added, French is the most popular foreign language here behind English and Japanese, and the European Union (EU) in January 2011 granted visa-free courtesies to ROC nationals traveling to Schengen member states, which sparked an increase in the number of travelers to Europe from Taiwan by 30-40%. Consequently, the president called for the signing of a youth working holiday agreement with France in order to enhance ties between the young people of both nations.
President Ma also expressed his appreciation to the EU and the European Parliament for issuing declarations or passing resolutions on 18 occasions supporting meaningful participation for Taiwan in United Nations specialized agencies and calling for the signing of an economic cooperation agreement between Taiwan and the EU. He emphasized that he has proactively sought to improve cross-strait relations since taking office in 2008, adding that an improvement in cross-strait relations and Taiwan's relations with the international community are complementary, and form a virtuous cycle.
In addition to Chairman Brottes, the delegation included Assembly members Henri Jibrayel, Jean Grellier, Frederique Barbier, and Corinne Erhel. The group was escorted to the Presidential Office by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Yea-Ping Shih (史亞平) to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Advisor Francis Yi-Hua Kan (甘逸驊).