Taiwan and Slovakia on Friday signed three memorandums of understanding (MOUs), pledging to boost bilateral trade, exchanges between start-ups and collaborations on nurturing talent for the semiconductor sector.
The memorandums were signed between the Importers and Exporters Association of Taipei and the Council of Slovak Exporters; Taiwan’s Startup Terrace and Slovak Business Agency; and National Sun Yat-sen University and the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava.
The signing in Bratislava was part of the second session of the Taiwanese-Slovak Commission on Economic Cooperation attended by a Taiwanese delegation led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥).
Photo: CNA
During the session, Tsai and Slovak State Secretary of the Ministry of the Economy Peter Gerhart exchanged ideas on how to boost bilateral trade and economic cooperation.
Taiwan and Slovakia have seen warming relations over the past few years, and the two sides hope to expand their collaborations on semiconductors, electric vehicles and the space industry, Tsai said.
He invited Slovak officials to attend next year’s session of the commission in Taiwan.
Other topics discussed on Friday included renewable energy, biotechnology, and space and science programs, he said.
The two sides agreed to continue to consolidate their substantial partnership, he said.
The Taiwanese delegation comprised representatives from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Bureau of Energy, the National Science and Technology Council and the partly government-funded Development Center for Biotechnology.
The Slovak delegation consisted of representatives from the Slovak Ministry of the Economy, the Slovak Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency, the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Slovak Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport.
Then-Slovak State Secretary of the Ministry of the Economy Karol Galek led a delegation to Taipei in December last year for the first session of the commission.
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
NOT TO WORRY: Some people are concerned funds might continue moving out of the country, but the central bank said financial account outflows are not unusual in Taiwan Taiwan’s outbound investments hit a new high last year due to investments made by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and other major manufacturers to boost global expansion, the central bank said on Thursday. The net increase in outbound investments last year reached a record US$21.05 billion, while the net increase in outbound investments by Taiwanese residents reached a record US$31.98 billion, central bank data showed. Chen Fei-wen (陳斐紋), deputy director of the central bank’s Department of Economic Research, said the increase was largely due to TSMC’s efforts to expand production in the US and Japan. Investments by Vanguard International
WARNING SHOT: The US president has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all imported vehicles, and similar or higher duties on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that a trade deal with China was “possible” — a key target in the US leader’s tariffs policy. The US in 2020 had already agreed to “a great trade deal with China” and a new deal was “possible,” Trump said. Trump said he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to visit the US, without giving a timeline for his trip. Trump also said that he was talking to China about TikTok, as the US seeks to broker a sale of the popular app owned by Chinese firm ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動). Trump last week said that he had
RSS