President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of September 25 with a delegation of parliamentarians from Belgium's Chamber of Representatives. In addition to extending a welcome to the visitors on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, the president also called for continued enhancement of interaction and cooperation between the two nations in a wide variety of areas.
In remarks, the president first stated that over the past 10 years the Belgian parliament has on four occasions passed resolutions supporting participation for Taiwan in the World Health Organization, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and other international organizations. Today, he said, Director General Shen Chi (沈啟) of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications' Civil Aeronautics Administration has been invited to attend the ICAO's 38th Assembly in Montreal, Canada as a special guest, the first time for the ROC to attend an ICAO assembly since losing its representation in the United Nations 42 years ago. The president specially thanked the Belgian parliament for its continued support in this regard.
President Ma stated that 14 international aviation routes cross through Taiwan's airspace, and there are also four domestic routes, making Taiwan's airspace extremely busy both for passenger and cargo. Each year, he said, air traffic controllers in Taiwan must provide navigation services for some 1.3 million flights that transit through the Taipei Flight Information Region, thereby ensuring the safety of the flights passing through. The president noted that on September 13 Taiwan received the invitation from the president of the ICAO Council to attend the assembly. The spokesperson of Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, also issued on September 23, 2013 a statement welcoming this development. This indicates that the longstanding support by the European Parliament for meaningful participation in the international community by Taiwan has yielded results, President Ma said.
The president further explained that since he took office five years ago considerable changes have taken place in East Asian aviation, at the center of which Taiwan is located. For instance, he noted, prior to the opening of direct flights between Taiwan and mainland China, airlines could only serve cities between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait via indirect flights or chartered flights that were allowed during special holidays. Now, however, 86 scheduled flights ply routes between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait daily, the president said, adding that some eight million people move between Taiwan and mainland China each year. President Ma mentioned that Taiwan and Japan have signed an open skies agreement in 2011, which has led to a significant increase in the number of travelers between the two countries. Last year, nearly three million people from the two countries made visits to the other, and the two countries now have very close aviation ties, he said. Consequently, Taiwan's participation in the ICAO is absolutely necessary, he stated.
With respect to Taiwan's trade and economic relations with Belgium and Europe, the president commented, Belgium is Taiwan's sixth largest trading partner in the European Union (EU). Last year, bilateral trade between the two countries reached about US$1.8 billion. He noted that Taiwan's Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association signed memoranda of understanding with Flanders Investment and Trade on October 31, 2012, and Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency on January 30 this year. He added that trade and economic relations between Taiwan and the EU continue to grow, and the EU is now Taiwan's fourth largest trading partner, while Taiwan is the EU's seventh largest trading partner in Asia. The president also pointed out that European companies are the largest source of foreign investment in Taiwan. In light of the close economic and trade ties between Taiwan and the EU, the signing of an economic cooperation agreement would further enhance this relationship. President Ma said that even if it is not feasible to sign such an agreement at this juncture, the two sides could first sign a bilateral investment agreement, as Taiwan has done with the United States. That agreement would then form the basis for promoting bilateral cooperation via a "building block" approach, he noted.
President Ma also mentioned that two years ago the EU granted visa-free courtesies to ROC nationals traveling to Schengen Agreement member nations, and the number of Taiwanese tourists visiting Europe has since risen considerably, thus boosting bilateral interaction. The president commented that in March of this year a working holiday agreement signed by Taiwan and Belgium formally took effect, with each side providing 200 slots each year to young people to travel to the other country for working holidays. The response has been enthusiastic, he said. The president also expressed hope that the program will be expanded so that more young people can experience the lifestyles and culture of the other country. President Ma also noted that the 2013 Taipei International Book Exhibition was held at the end of January this year, and Belgium was invited as the guest of honor (aka. annual theme nation). Meanwhile, in September, Taiwan was the guest of honor at the Fete de la BD 2013 (a comic strip festival) in Belgium. Cultural interaction is thus increasing between the two sides. The president called on the visitors to continue supporting Taiwan in international venues so the cooperative relationship can continue to expand.
The group included Vice-President Corinne De Permentier of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, and Representatives Gerald Kindermans, Luc Gustin, Jan Van Esbroeck, and Christophe Bastin. The delegation was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Belgian Office in Taipei Director Caroline Vermeulen to meet with President Ma. Also attending the meeting were National Security Council Advisor Francis Yi-Hua Kan (甘逸驊) and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Yea-Ping Shih (史亞平).