President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of July 31 with France Telecom's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stephane Richard. The president welcomed Mr. Richard to Taiwan and briefed him on bilateral economic and trade relations, as well as ties in the fields of technology and culture, and expressed hope that this visit to Taiwan by Mr. Richard will further enhance cooperative ties between Taiwan and France.
In remarks, the president noted that in 2012 France was Taiwan's fourth largest trading partner in Europe, while Taiwan was France's eighth largest trading partner in Asia, and bilateral trade last year reached about €3.4 billion. Furthermore, the number of Taiwanese visiting France has increased 30% since 2011 when the European Union (EU) granted visa-free treatment to ROC nationals visiting European nations party to the Schengen Agreement. This increase in Taiwanese tourists to France has helped reduce the trade imbalance between the two nations, he stated.
President Ma mentioned that in 2010 Taiwan and France signed an arrangement for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income. From the signing of this agreement to the end of 2012, 160 French enterprises made investments in Taiwan, the president said. In addition, France is Taiwan's second largest partner in technology behind only the United States, he explained, noting that since 2008 the two countries worked together on over 230 projects. Communications, he said, is one of the main areas of cooperation.
The president noted that Mr. Richard served as the Chief of Staff to the French Minister for the Economy, Industry, and Employment, adding that Mr. Richard has made outstanding contributions to the telecommunications industry in France. President Ma commented that France Telecom is one of the world's largest telecom groups, and does business under the Orange brand name as a telecom operator in 32 nations, providing services to 230 million customers. In 2012, said the president, France Telecom posted revenues of over €40 billion, making it not only the leader in French telecom industry, but also one of the world's leading brand names.
President Ma stressed that HTC is a renowned Taiwanese manufacturer of mobile phones. In 2011 HTC was singled out as one of the world's most valuable 100 brand names, and won the GSMA Device Manufacturer of the Year award, he said, adding that an HTC phone is one of his favorite things to present to foreign visitors as gifts. Back in 2002, he noted, HTC was the first to design a Microsoft smart phone for Orange, and to this day continues to be an important technical strategic partner of France Telecom.
In discussing the state of Taiwan's telecommunications infrastructure, the president noted that the number of mobile phone customers in Taiwan was nearing 30 million as of the end of this June, making for a cell phone penetration rate of 126.4%. Meanwhile, the number of broadband Internet subscriptions in Taiwan surpassed 24 million as of the end of this May, he said. Furthermore, in May of last year, he stated, Taiwan's government revised the Digital Convergence Development Program, helping to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive high-speed broadband network. The president said that the government will release 4G licenses by the end of this year, which will help upgrade Taiwan's communications and broadcasting industries.
President Ma further stated that, thanks to the efforts of the government, Taiwan's telecommunications infrastructure has received favorable ratings in various international surveys. For instance, in the Global Information Technology Report 2013 released in April of this year by the World Economic Forum, Taiwan ranked 10th among 144 developed or developing economies in the report's Networked Readiness Index, second in Asia behind only Singapore, while outpacing Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan, he said. In addition, the Fiber to the Home Council, an international non-profit organization whose mission is to accelerate deployment of all-fiber access networks, in March of this year announced its 2012 Fiber to the Home/Building penetration rate and Taiwan ranked fifth worldwide, the president noted, which highlights how well-developed Taiwan's communications infrastructure is.
Mr. Richard, along with HTC Corp. Chairwoman Cher Wang (王雪紅), HTC board member Chen Wen-Chi (陳文琦), and HTC CEO Peter Chou (周永明), was escorted by Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Jian-Yu (陳建宇) to the Presidential Office to meet with President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General John C. C. Deng (鄧振中).