From right to centre-left: Catherine Nettleton (Representative, British Office Taipei), Lord Faulkner (UK Trade Envoy to Taiwan), Conor Burns (Minister for Trade Policy, Department for International Trade), Mei-Hua Wang (Deputy Minister, Ministry of Economic Affairs), David Y.L. Lin (Representative, Taipei Representative Office in the UK), and William Liu (Deputy Director General, Bureau of Foreign Trade).
On 1 October, Taiwan’s Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Mei-Hua Wang and UK Trade Policy Minister Conor Burns held the 22nd round of UK-Taiwan trade talks in London, successfully enhancing bilateral trade and cooperation across several sectors. During the talks, ministers on both sides agreed to work together on the UK’s application to export British lamb to Taiwan, resolve market access issues as well as explore ways to boost collaboration on offshore wind, pharmaceuticals, financial services and other areas. Officials on both sides also celebrated the one year anniversary of Taiwan opening its market to British pork imports in August 2018. Last year, bilateral trade grew to £6.6 billion and since Taiwan opened its market to British pork imports in August 2018, UK pork exports have amounted to more than £4.58 million in the first year.
Deputy Minister Wang emphasised that the UK is one of Taiwan’s major trading partners in Europe and pointed out that Brexit comes with many opportunities for enhancing bilateral cooperation between the UK and Taiwan. Minister Burns stressed that as one of the fastest growing export markets in Asia, Taiwan offers huge opportunities for British businesses in offshore wind, financial services as well as food and drink. According to a report by the Department for International Trade published 2 October, the UK is poised to be a key partner with Taiwan in the offshore wind industry. 18 British companies in the offshore wind supply chain have established offices in Taiwan, in accordance with Taiwan’s plan to increase its renewable energy production from 4 to 20 % of supply by 2025.
