During a meeting on the afternoon of January 9 with a delegation from the European Parliament, President Ma Ying-jeou reiterated Taiwan's hopes to negotiate an economic cooperation agreement with the European Union (EU) as soon as possible in order to deepen bilateral economic and trade ties.
In remarks, the president stated that delegations from the European Parliament have made frequent visits to Taiwan in recent years, which points to progress in the relationship. He pointed out that Taiwan and the EU maintain interaction and cooperation in a number of fields, including science and technology, health, nuclear safety, joint combating of piracy, environmental protection, and climate change. This cooperation has already yielded some success. In particular, three years ago the EU granted ROC nationals visa-free entry to member states of the Schengen Agreement. This has paved the way for a significant increase in the number of Taiwanese visiting Europe, thus helping to bolster ties.
President Ma stated that over the past several years the European Parliament and EU-related organizations have on 22 occasions passed resolutions or issued statements of support for Taiwan. He specifically mentioned that the Annual Report from the European Council to the European Parliament on the Common Foreign and Security Policy in each of the past three years has recognized the progress made in cross-strait relations and urged support for the negotiation of an EU-Taiwan economic cooperation agreement to promote economic and trade ties.
As for economic and trade topics, the president stated, the EU is Taiwan's fourth largest trading partner in the world, and European companies are Taiwan's largest source of foreign investment, so bilateral economic and trade relations are quite close. Moreover, the European Parliament on October 9 of last year passed a resolution on EU-Taiwan trade relations that urged the European Commission to initiate negotiations with Taiwan on investment protection and market access agreements. This marked the first time that the European Parliament had passed a resolution on Taiwan-EU economic and trade relations, making it especially meaningful, he remarked.
President Ma further stated that in March of last year Taiwan and the United States resumed negotiations under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. In July, Taiwan signed the ANZTEC free trade agreement with New Zealand, then in November signed the ASTEP free trade agreement with Singapore. Also in November, Taiwan signed several agreements with Japan, including the Arrangement for Mutual Cooperation on Electronic Commerce and the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of High-speed Rail Transportation. All of these developments attest to Taiwan's active intent to expand trade and economic relations with its major trading partners, the president said, adding that he hopes the EU will commence negotiations on an economic cooperation agreement with Taiwan as soon as possible.
President Ma also expressed his deepest gratitude to the EU for its longstanding support for participation for Taiwan in the World Health Assembly, the Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization, and other international organizations and activities. He also expressed hope that this visit will help to pave the way for greater cooperation and interaction by the two sides in a variety of areas.