President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of September 27 with a delegation led by Chair Brian Simpson of the European Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism. In addition to welcoming the visitors on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, the president called for enhanced cooperation between the two sides.
In remarks, President Ma stated that since his inauguration to a second term in office last year, many delegations from the European Parliament have visited Taiwan, and bilateral relations have become increasingly close. Over the past several years, the European Parliament and other European Union (EU) entities have passed over 20 resolutions or statements in support of Taiwan, he said. For instance, for the past two years in a row, the Annual Report from the European Council to the European Parliament on the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) has included a resolution calling for the signing of an EU-Taiwan economic cooperation agreement, and supporting meaningful participation for Taiwan in the World Health Assembly, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), he said. Furthermore, the president stated, the European Parliament in its recent report on EU-China relations took special note of the East China Sea Peace Initiative that he unveiled, which aims to promote regional peace.
President Ma explained to the visitors that Director General Shen Chi (沈啟) of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications' Civil Aeronautics Administration is now in Montreal, Canada to attend the ICAO's 38th Assembly as a special guest. The president thanked the EU for helping Taiwan to be present at the event. The spokesperson of Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, also issued a statement on September 23, 2013 welcoming this development, he said. President Ma noted that over 200 members of the European Parliament co-signed a letter to the ICAO secretary general supporting participation for Taiwan in the organization.
The president stressed that 14 international aviation routes and four domestic routes cross through the Taipei Flight Information Region. Air traffic controllers in Taiwan provide navigation services for some 1.3 million flights annually that transit through the Taipei Flight Information Region, to the benefit of over 40 million passengers. Consequently, Taiwan's participation in the ICAO is extremely significant from both a technical and safety perspective, he commented.
With respect to trade and economic relations between Taiwan and the EU, President Ma said, the EU is Taiwan's fourth largest trading partner, while Taiwan is the EU's seventh largest trading partner in Asia. In addition, European companies constitute the largest source of foreign direct investment in Taiwan, the total stock of which now exceeds US$32 billion, he noted. The European Parliament, the president mentioned, has on numerous occasions called for enhanced economic ties between the EU and Taiwan.
President Ma further stated that according to an estimate by Copenhagen Economics, an economics consultancy in Denmark, the signing of an EU-Taiwan economic cooperation agreement would increase the EU's GDP each year by about €2 billion. With this in mind, he called on both sides to engage in both independent and joint research to find areas where cooperation would be mutually beneficial. Alternatively, he said, the two sides could start by signing a bilateral investment agreement, which would solidify the foundation for the two sides to forge a closer economic and trade partnership.
President Ma mentioned that tourism has grown significantly between Taiwan and the EU since the EU granted visa-free courtesies to ROC nationals two years ago. As Mr. Simpson is the chair of the European Parliament's Transport and Tourism Committee, the president expressed hope that his visit to Taiwan will further promote tourism, transportation, and economic and trade relations between the two sides.
Joining Chair Simpson was European Parliament Member Said El Khadraoui. The two were accompanied to the Presidential Office by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Yea-Ping Shih (史亞平) to meet with President Ma. Also attending the meeting were Secretary-General to the President Timothy Chin-Tien Yang (楊進添) and National Security Council Advisor Francis Yi-Hua Kan (甘逸驊).