President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of August 25 with a delegation led by French Senator Jean-Marie Bockel, vice chairman of the Senate's Taiwan Friendship Group and former minister of commerce, handicrafts and tourism. The president extended a warm welcome to Senator Bockel and also expressed hope for continued deepening of interaction and cooperation between the two sides.
In remarks, President Ma stated that Senator Bockel previously visited Taiwan in 2011 and 2013, and this time he is heading up a delegation of parliamentarians friendly to the ROC from the Senate and the National Assembly's committees on foreign affairs, defense and armed forces, as well as economic affairs. Senator Bockel and Senator Sylvie Goy-Chavent, as well as Christian Debeve, secretary of Senator Bockel's office, have all previously visited the ROC, and the other three members of the delegation are making their first visit to Taiwan. The president is confident that given Taiwan's freedom, democracy, and social vitality, together with the hospitality of its people, the parliamentarians have pleasant memories of their visit here.
With respect to bilateral relations, the president stated that the two countries continue to strengthen their interaction and cooperation in a wide variety of areas. For instance, trade between Taiwan and France last year stood at about US$4.2 billion, making France Taiwan's 22nd largest trading partner globally and its fourth largest trading partner in Europe, behind only Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The ROC government, the president said, also hopes that the French government will support the negotiation and signing of a bilateral investment agreement and economic cooperation agreement between Taiwan and the European Union (EU) as soon as possible, thereby promoting economic and trade cooperation between the ROC and the EU.
In the area of technology cooperation, the president said that Taiwan devotes more manpower and resources to its cooperation with France than any other nation in Europe. It is also Taiwan's second largest technology cooperation partner in the world, behind only the United States, and the two countries are presently cooperating on 58 projects.
On the education and culture front, President Ma commented that Taiwan and France have signed over 400 cooperative agreements involving schools and institutes of higher education. In addition, each year about 50 French films are screened in Taiwan, the highest number in Asia. The ROC's Ministry of Culture and the Institut de France jointly established the Taiwan-France Cultural Awards, and this cooperation is extremely important to the ROC. On July 6 of this year ROC Minister of Culture Hung Meng-chi (洪孟啟) hosted the award presentation ceremonies in France. The ROC has also already signed youth working holiday agreements with 13 nations, eight which are in Europe. The president hopes that the ROC and France will sign a similar agreement in the near future to enhance interaction and exchanges of youth between the two countries.
Lastly, President Ma remarked that while the ROC and France are geographically quite far from each other, the two pursue the common values of freedom, democracy, peace, and human rights. He hopes that the two sides will further deepen bilateral interaction and cooperation based on the existing foundation.
The delegation also included French Senator Marie-Francoise Perol-Dumont and National Assemblymen Jean-Luc Reitzer and Eric Straumann.