Taiwan will promote more robust trade relations with the EU, but so far bilateral discussions on signing a Trade Enhancement Measure (TEM) have not be launched, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
It did not provide any explanation as to why the trade pact the European Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (ECCT) has called for since August had not materialized.
The Korea Times on Monday reported that South Korea and the 27-nation bloc concluded their talks on a free trade agreement (FTA) and that their pact could enter into force as early as the beginning of next year.
Both sides have held intense negotiations since 2007 on an accord to slash tariffs and other trade barriers. The EU is South Korea’s second-largest trade partner after China, with bilateral trade totaling US$98.4 billion last year.
South Korean officials said that the deal would create 600,000 jobs in South Korea and raise its GDP by US$18 billion in the long term, the Korea Times reported.
Two months ago, during a European Day luncheon in Taipei, ECCT chairman Philippe Pellegrin urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who attended the function, to accelerate the pace of dialogue with the EU on a TEM, which he said had much support from Taiwanese businesspeople.
Pellegrin said the imminent FTA between South Korea and the EU could have a negative impact on Taiwan’s competitiveness in key industrial sectors such as machinery and flat-screen manufacturing.
In his address, Ma said that “Taiwan also agrees with the ECCT’s suggestion of exploring TEM with the EU,” adding that Taiwan wished to start consultations on a TEM soon.
So far, the European Economic and Trade Office has not made any public statement regarding the proposal and the office said it could not comment on the matter because office head Guy Ledoux is out of the country.
Despite numerous questions on the subject at a press conference yesterday, MOFA spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) did not elaborate on the TEM.
“It is MOFA’s goal to fortify trade relations with any region or individual country,” he said. “We are working on it, but there are some problems.”
Chen declined to elaborate on the “problems.”
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