Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺) on Wednesday held talks with his Lithuanian counterpart on expanding economic cooperation between the two countries, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
The talks with Lithuanian Vice Minister of Economy and Innovation Jovita Neliupsiene included the semiconductor, laser, biotech and investment sectors, as well as start-ups and global supply chains, the ministry said yesterday.
The economic dialogue was the first to take place between the two countries at the vice-ministerial level, and was part of a three-day visit by a 24-member Taiwanese delegation to Lithuania, the ministry said.
In public remarks before the meeting, Chen said that Taiwan and Lithuania have built ties based on shared democratic values, even amid momentous global changes in areas such as supply chains, trade and geopolitics.
Neliupsiene said that the talks would help to further expand business relationships that Lithuanian industries — including the country’s cutting-edge laser industry, its life science industry and start-ups — have begun to build with companies in Taiwan.
Taiwan in November last year opened a representative office in Lithuania, and sent economic delegations to the country in October last year and in March.
In the first quarter of this year, bilateral trade between the two countries increased 30 percent to NT$44.87 million (US$1.52 million), Taiwanese customs data showed.
However, the Baltic state has come under heavy political and economic pressure from China over the name of the office, the Taiwanese Representative Office.
The nation’s representative offices in countries without formal relations mostly use “Taipei,” such as the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US. Embassies in nations with formal ties use “Republic of China.”
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