The ROC would like to advance its economic relationship with Europe by enhancing bilateral cooperation and eventually signing formal agreements, Premier Jiang Yi-huah said today when he received a European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT) delegation at the Executive Yuan.
"While the ROC is not a giant economy, it is striving to integrate with the international community through liberalization," the premier remarked during the meeting. "This has been evident over the last six months, with the revival of the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement talks with the United States in March, the Cross-Straits Agreement on Trade in Services with mainland China in June and the Agreement between New Zealand and Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on Economic Cooperation in July."
Recently, the government has been vigorously promoting free economic pilot zones (FEPZs), Jiang pointed out. He called FEPZ development a major liberalization breakthrough which follows up on the creation of export processing zones and science parks in the past.
"FEPZs will prioritize high value-added service industries, and the economic activity they will attract is expected to provide new opportunities for economic transformation and industry growth," he stated.
During the meeting, ECCT members presented recommendations to the government. Relevant ministry officials provided preliminary responses, and the premier instructed agencies to research those proposals which could not be answered immediately and then reply to the ECCT as soon as possible.
"I hope that this way, our foreign business friends feel the government's determination to make our business environment freer, more flexible and more in line with their expectations," Jiang said.