President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of January 6 with a delegation led by John McGuiness, Chairman of the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Society. The president welcomed the group to Taiwan and called for continued enhancement of interaction and cooperation between the two sides.
In remarks, President Ma stated that Ireland was a stellar economic performer in the 1990s, and was even referred to as "Shining Ireland" by The Economist magazine. The rapid economic growth enjoyed by Ireland, the president noted, was made possible when that nation's various political parties put a stop to their infighting and instead worked together to bolster the economy. He also took advantage of the meeting to congratulate Ireland for successfully exiting a three-year international bailout plan last December. He expressed hope that both Taiwan and Ireland this year will achieve economic breakthroughs.
President Ma stated that considerable advancements have been seen in substantive relations and cooperation between Taiwan and Ireland in recent years. For instance, he noted, Ireland in 2009 began granting visa-free courtesies to ROC nationals, making Ireland the first European Union (EU) member state to do so. In addition, the president said, in September 2010 Taiwan and Ireland reached an agreement to issue drivers licenses to citizens of the other nation without requiring an exam. Furthermore, in January 2013 the Taiwan-Ireland Youth Working Holiday Programme formally went into effect, he remarked. President Ma called for the early signing of an agreement for the avoidance of double taxation to protect investors from each country who invest in the other. This, the president commented, will further promote economic and trade dealings between the two sides.
President Ma mentioned that the EU is a major trading partner of Taiwan and is Taiwan's largest source of foreign investment. In order to quickly deepen bilateral trade and economic ties, the European Parliament on October 9 last year passed a resolution on EU-Taiwan trade relations urging the European Commission to launch parallel negotiations for bilateral agreements on investment protection and market access, he said. In addition, the European Parliament has passed a number of resolutions calling on the EU to sign an economic cooperation agreement with Taiwan, the president stated. He also made mention of a feasibility study carried out by a Danish think tank that said the signing of an economic cooperation agreement between the EU and Taiwan would generate economic growth amounting to over €10 billion.
The president further stated that the United States and the EU are currently in negotiations on an economic cooperation agreement and this would constitute an extremely important development in global and regional economic integration. He commented that Taiwan is also actively pursuing the signing of bilateral economic cooperation agreements with members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), pointing to Taiwan's signing of the ANZTEC agreement with New Zealand in July 2013 and the ASTEP agreement with Singapore in November 2013. Taiwan hopes that these steps will create advantageous conditions for it to ultimately join the TPP, he said.
Lastly, the president stated that the Irish government has at many important EU meetings taken substantive action to support meaningful participation for Taiwan in international organizations and activities. He said the government and people of Taiwan will always remember these gestures, and he further expressed hope that interaction and cooperation between the two sides will continue to be strengthened in the future.