Premier Cho Jung-tai on Monday received John Dennis, representative at the British Office in Taipei. Britain is Taiwan's third-largest trading partner in Europe and this creates a strong case for further enhancing the Taiwan-U.K. trade relationship, the premier said. As a member of the international community, Taiwan will always shoulder its responsibility to uphold the universal values of freedom, democracy and human rights. Furthermore, Taiwan hopes to be able to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in order to contribute to the maintenance of security in the Indo-Pacific region and the Taiwan Strait.
Premier Cho pointed out that last year Taiwan and the U.K. signed an Enhanced Trade Partnership Arrangement to promote deeper cooperation across three areas: investment, digital trade, and green energy and net-zero carbon. Additionally, June this year saw both nations co-host the 5th UK-Taiwan Energy Dialogue. Meanwhile, more than 40 British offshore wind power companies have established bases in Taiwan for cooperation on engineering and technology R&D.
In his remarks, Representative Dennis said the U.K.'s longstanding policy toward Taiwan has not changed and our common interests remain the same. He also emphasized that by working closely and practically in the aforementioned areas of cooperation, the U.K. and Taiwan are not only generating growth and prosperity for our people, but also improving our collective resilience against shared challenges and unlocking expertise to contribute to solving the global problems that all societies face. To that end, the U.K. will continue to support Taiwan's meaningful participation in international organizations such as the World Health Assembly and the World Health Organization.
Regarding the CPTPP, Representative Dennis said the U.K. looks forward to becoming a full member later this year, now that other affiliated parties have finalized their ratification processes, and he said the U.K. will continue to share its experiences of the CPTPP accession process with Taiwan to help inform the latter's approach. More broadly, the U.K. will also continue to stress the indivisibility of stability and prosperity between the Euro-Atlantic region and the Indo-Pacific region.