President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of July 21 with a delegation led by Alain Richard, Chairman of the French Senate's Taiwan Friendship Group. In addition to extending a warm welcome to the visitors, the president expressed hope that France will continue to support the negotiation and signing of an economic cooperation agreement (ECA) and a bilateral investment agreement (BIA) between the ROC and the European Union (EU) to further deepen bilateral economic and trade relations.
In remarks, President Ma said that the members of the French National Assembly's France-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group on this trip are all making their first visit to Taiwan, and he is confident that this trip will enhance their understanding of Taiwan, and be a significant factor in bolstering relations between the ROC and France.
The president mentioned that the ROC and France maintain close interaction. Last year, bilateral trade stood at roughly US$4.25 billion, making France the ROC's fourth largest trading partner in Europe. In the field of technology, meanwhile, France is Taiwan's main cooperative partner in Europe in terms of both manpower and resources, and is Taiwan's second largest technology partner in the world, with the two countries engaging in 58 cooperative projects, he said.
In the areas of culture and education, the president stated that the two sides have signed over 200 cooperative agreements involving schools and institutes of higher education. In addition, each year about 50 French films are screened in Taiwan, the most of anywhere in Asia. Furthermore, Taiwan's Minister of Culture Hung Meng-chi (洪孟啟) on July 6 of this year presided over the Taiwan-France Cultural Award ceremony held in France, a joint project of Taiwan's Ministry of Culture and the Institut de France. These activities indicate the frequent nature of educational and cultural interaction. The president also expressed hope that the two countries will soon sign a youth working holiday agreement to promote interaction among youth from both nations.
President Ma then mentioned that the ROC government continues to strive to have meaningful participation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the International Civil Aviation Organization, and other UN specialized agencies. Showing its determination to act against climate change, the Legislative Yuan this past June passed the Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction and Management Act, which pledges to reduce ROC greenhouse gas emissions by 50% of 2005 levels. The president hopes that the visiting senators will understand the efforts the ROC government has made, and support meaningful participation for Taiwan in the above-mentioned specialized agencies of the UN.
Turning to international economic and trade cooperation, President Ma noted that the ROC is actively working to negotiate and sign economic cooperation-related agreements with its trading partners. He pointed out that the ANZTEC economic cooperation agreement between Taiwan and New Zealand took effect in December 2013, following which bilateral trade in 2014 rose 12.5% from the previous year. The ASTEP economic partnership agreement signed by Taiwan and Singapore also took effect in April 2014 and in the remaining months of that year bilateral trade had grown 5% from the year-earlier period. This shows that signing FTAs helps develop bilateral trade, he said. President Ma, therefore, called for France's continued support for the negotiation and signing of an ECA and a BIA between the ROC and the EU, thus deepening bilateral economic and trade relations.
Lastly, the president mentioned that while the ROC and France are geographically quite far apart, both, however, pursue the common values of freedom, democracy, peace, and human rights. He hopes that the guests will continue to support the ROC and promote even greater bilateral interaction in a wide variety of areas.
Also in the delegation were Senators Philippe Kaltenbach and Claude Raynal. The group was accompanied to the Presidential Office by French Office in Taipei Director Olivier Richard to meet with President Ma.