Premier Cho Jung-tai on Wednesday received Lutz Gllner, head of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan. The premier said that Taiwan and the EU are very important democratic partners and economic allies. Furthermore, the main focus of Taiwan-EU cooperation overlaps with areas that are of crucial importance to the international community: semiconductors, supply chain resilience, and digital and green transformations.
Premier Cho pointed out that the Executive Yuan is actively developing Taiwan's Five Trusted Industry Sectors: semiconductors, AI, military, security and surveillance, and next-generation communications. The premier said he hopes Taiwan and the EU will consider moving forward on a basis similar to the U.K.-Taiwan Enhanced Trade Partnership Arrangement and the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, as a route to the signing of an economic partnership agreement and to further cement the bilateral relationship.
In his remarks, Representative Güllner said there are many opportunities for the EU and Taiwan to work together that go beyond classical trade and investment, including issues such as the energy transition that the EU and Taiwan are experiencing, and the need to develop clean industrial policies, often linked to innovation, where there are tremendous possibilities for cooperation.
Representative Güllner added that the EU and Taiwan have very strong people-to-people relations and have worked together on education, digital issues and many other areas, with great potential for further advancement. He said he is very happy to have a clear mandate to come to Taiwan and to help develop these relations.