Taiwan and South Korea have signed an agreement to prevent double taxation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that the government is also seeking trade pacts with Australia and India.
The government has been promoting the deal with Seoul since 2014 and it was signed on Nov. 17, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Wallace Chow (周民淦) told a news briefing in Taipei.
The Agreement for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income was signed by the Seoul-based Taipei Mission in Korea and the Korean Mission in Taipei, the Ministry of Finance said in a news release.
It would help reduce the tax burden for people and enterprises on both sides, provide a mechanism for dispute resolution and enhance other areas of tax cooperation, the finance ministry said.
Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral trade revenue last year reached a new high of US$35.74 billion, Chow said, adding that Taiwan and South Korea are each other’s fifth-largest trading partners.
The two nations are also the third-largest sources of tourists for each other, he said.
In 2019, prior to the pandemic, mutual visits totaled 2.45 million people, the sixth consecutive year of growth, he said.
Asked if there is any progress negotiating a Taiwan-India free-trade agreement, Chow said that the government continues to push for a deal.
If an agreement can be signed, both sides would benefit from a reduction in non-tariff barriers, he said.
Taiwan and India would complement each other with their trade and investment structures, while India imports from Taiwan a lot of material and components to assemble products, he said.
Taiwan can help India upgrade its manufacturing and tech industries, and boost its product positions in global value chains, Chow said, adding that many Taiwanese high-tech firms are considering expanding their investments in India.
Meanwhile, the government hopes to sign an economic cooperation agreement with Australia, Chow said in response to media queries.
The Taiwan-Australia trade volume has been growing 10 percent annually for the past five years, reaching A$14.7 billion (US$10.49 billion) last year, while both sides work close together on trade, clean energy, technology, cybersecurity, culture, education and biotechnology, he said.
In the post-pandemic era, many countries are rebuilding resilient supply chains based on shared values, Chow said, adding that Taiwan and Australia are reliable partners.
Taiwan is Australia’s 10th-largest trade partner and one of Canberra’s few main partners that have not signed a bilateral trade agreement with it, Chow said.
With support from Australian lawmakers, trade groups and friends in other sectors, the government is seeking to start negotiations over an economic cooperation agreement with Canberra, as well as seek its support for Taiwan to join the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, he said.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS