President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of January 20 with a delegation of Canadian parliamentarians. During the discussions, the president called for continued strengthening of cooperation between Taiwan and Canada in a variety of areas, and also expressed hope that Canada will support Taiwan in its efforts to take part in regional economic integration mechanisms.
In remarks, President Ma stated that delegation leader Nina Grewal, a member of the House of Commons, previously visited in 2005 and 2008 and is therefore familiar with Taiwan. Born in Japan and educated in India, Ms. Grewal immigrated to Canada with her husband in 1991. The president noted that both she and her husband served in the House of Commons from 2004 to 2006, becoming an intriguing tale in Canadian political circles, as well as a success story about immigrants becoming involved in Canadian politics.
As for Taiwan-Canada relations, President Ma commented that substantive relations have seen considerable progress in recent years. He pointed out that following Taiwan’s 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, Canada's minister of foreign affairs immediately issued statements of congratulations and applauded the success of Taiwan's democratic electoral process. In addition, the president stated that relations in the private sector have also progressed, and a youth working holiday program introduced in 2010 has been extremely well-received among young people here, with the 1,000 slots available each year falling far short of demand. He added that in November of that same year, Canada began providing visa-free courtesies to ROC nationals, leading to a significant increase in the number of Canada-bound tourists from Taiwan. The number of weekly flights between the two countries also increased from 13 to 17, and will rise to 21 this year, a sure sign of close and friendly bilateral relations.
With respect to trade and economic dealings between the two sides, President Ma noted that Taiwan is Canada's 11th largest global trading partner, and fourth largest in Asia. Canada is the largest source of nickel for Taiwan, while also serving as its third largest import source of iron, and fifth largest for coal. The president explained that at the beginning of last year the ROC government overcame various obstacles and opened the domestic market to imports of Canadian bone-in beef, which led to a considerable growth in imports to Taiwan. Canada also accounts for 60% of Taiwan's pork imports, he said, going on to express hope that the two sides in the future will not only continue to develop existing relationships, but will be able to diversify interaction and cooperation in a wide range of fields.
President Ma remarked that since taking office in 2008, the government has actively promoted economic and trade liberalization. For instance, in July 2013 Taiwan signed the ANZTEC economic cooperation agreement with New Zealand, followed by the signing of the ASTEP economic partnership agreement with Singapore in November of that year. The president said that Taiwan is actively seeking to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), hoping that participation in economic integration mechanisms of this type will help to further develop multilateral relations.
President Ma also called for continued strengthening of economic and trade cooperation between Canada and Taiwan. During last year's APEC Economic Leaders' Week in Beijing, the leader's representative from Taiwan, former Vice President Vincent C. Siew (蕭萬長), met with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, maintaining positive momentum toward greater cooperation. The president remarked that bilateral negotiations on an agreement to avoid double taxation have been completed, and that he hopes the two countries will sign this agreement as soon as possible, and then commence negotiations on a bilateral investment protection agreement. This, he said, would strengthen trade and investment relations between the two countries while also creating a stable foundation from which to begin talks on an economic cooperation agreement.
The delegation also included Canadian Senator Michael MacDonald and House of Commons members Ryan Cleary, Annick Papillon, John Barlow, and David Yurdiga. The group was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Canadian Trade Office in Taipei Executive Director Kathleen Mackay to meet with President Ma.