President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of November 13 with Premysl Sobotka, Vice-President of the Czech Republic Senate, and briefed Mr. Sobotka regarding ongoing substantive interaction and cooperation between the ROC and the Czech Republic in terms of visits by legislators, economics and trade, and science and technology. The president also expressed hope that the two sides will sign a double taxation avoidance agreement and a youth working holiday agreement as soon as possible to further deepen the bilateral relationship.
In remarks, the president stated that Mr. Sobotka won the Czech Republic's first Senate election in 1996, and has also been the winner in each subsequent election. The president went on to express admiration for Mr. Sobotka's wealth of parliamentary experience, having served several terms as Senate vice-president, and as Senate president from 2004 to 2010. Mr. Sobotka's visit to the ROC follows a February visit by another high-ranking member of the Czech parliament, Chamber of Deputies Vice-Chairperson Petr Gazdik, showing that the parliament feels it is important to strengthen ROC-Czech ties.
President Ma remarked that the ROC and the Czech Republic are both democratic and peace-loving nations that promote the rule of law. The two sides have traditionally had a strong friendship, with the late Czech President Vaclav Havel having visited the ROC in November 2004, Senate Vice-President Miluse Horska in December 2013, and Chamber of Deputies Vice-Chairperson Gazdik in this past February. These visits are testament to the close and friendly substantive relations between the two countries, said President Ma.
The president expressed gratitude for the Czech Republic's work in supporting and assisting the ROC in expanding its international space, noting that the Czech government has taken substantive action on a number of occasions at important meetings in the European Union (EU) to support our meaningful participation in international organizations. In 2009, when serving as the rotating chair of the EU, the Czech Republic issued a statement welcoming Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly as an observer. The Czech Republic was also instrumental in the EU's decision, effective since January 11, 2011, granting ROC nationals visa-free courtesies when traveling to the Schengen nations.
Commenting on bilateral cooperation and results in economic and trade affairs, President Ma stated that the ROC and the Czech Republic have signed eight memoranda of understanding on cooperation in the fields of e-government, intellectual property rights, telecommunications, science and technology, innovation-oriented research and development, and nuclear energy. In addition, the Czech Republic is one of our major economic and trade partners in Central Europe. The president mentioned that quite a few information technology companies from Taiwan have invested in the Czech Republic. These investments, which total some US$563 million, have helped create about 20,000 jobs there.
Looking ahead, President Ma expressed hope that the two countries will sign an agreement to prevent double taxation, which will make Taiwan companies more willing to invest in the Czech Republic while substantively benefitting economic development in both countries. The ROC in recent years has already signed youth working holiday agreements with eight European nations, the president said, expressing hope that we can sign a similar agreement with the Czech Republic to expand the international perspective of Taiwan's young people and help them participate in international affairs.
The president also mentioned that since 2010, the ROC has signed economic or investment-related cooperation agreements with major trading partners such as mainland China, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore to actively promote trade liberalization and regional economic integration. The ROC and the United States also resumed negotiations under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement framework. These efforts show our determination to promote trade liberalization and expand our international economic alliances. The ROC is also presently pursuing membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, hoping that joining regional economic integration mechanisms will advance regional prosperity and development, he said.
Discussing Taiwan-EU relations, the president stated that bilateral trade last year reached US$50.9 billion. The EU was Taiwan's fifth largest trading partner, and Taiwan was the EU's seventh largest trading partner in Asia and 19th largest overall. The EU is also the ROC's largest source of foreign investment, having invested a total of over US$33 billion here, which speaks to the extremely close bilateral economic and trade relationship. In recent years the ROC has been hoping to sign a bilateral investment agreement and an economic cooperation agreement with the EU that would enhance substantive cooperation between Taiwan, the Czech Republic, and the EU, creating a "win-win-win" situation, said the president.
President Ma stated that all the visitors in the delegation are extremely important and powerful friends of the ROC, and he hopes that the two sides will maintain cordial relations. He also expressed hope that when they return home to the Czech Republic, they will continue to promote bilateral interaction and cooperation, helping to solidify bilateral relations.
Also in attendance at the meeting were Senator Jan Hornik, Senator Petr Bratsky, and Adviser to First Vice-President Petr Kostka. The visitors were accompanied to the Presidential Office by Vaclav Jilek, Representative of Czech Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, and ROC's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Yea-Ping Shih (史亞平) to meet with President Ma.