Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan on Tuesday received a Slovak delegation visiting Taiwan to attend the third session of the Taiwanese-Slovak Commission on Economic Cooperation. The delegation is scheduled to also visit several government and private organizations, which the vice premier said he is confident will further strengthen the development of Taiwanese-Slovak bilateral relations. The vice premier noted that this year is the 20th anniversary of Taiwan and Slovakia's establishment of representative offices in each other's countries. On behalf of Taiwan's government and people, he expressed gratitude to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Slovakia for recently passing a resolution supporting Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly.
Vice Premier Cheng pointed out that Taiwan's government has established a US$200 million Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Investment Fund and a US$1 billion CEE Credit Fund to strengthen trade and economic cooperation with Slovakia and other Central and Eastern European nations. Taiwan is also cooperating with Slovakia to promote resilience projects that assist development of key industries such as semiconductors and electric vehicles, with hopes that bilateral trade and economic cooperation will continue to deepen into the future.
In his remarks, Deputy Minister of Economy Peter vec thanked Taiwan for providing Slovakia with assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic, and said that Slovakia and Taiwan have recently entered a new and dynamic level of bilateral partnership. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of direct economic cooperation between Slovakia and Taiwan, which has promoted closer people-to-people contacts and strengthened bilateral partnerships in a number of fields including scientific research, higher education and culture.
Deputy Minister vec said Taiwan is a reliable and important partner and friend of Slovakia in the Asia-Pacific region and welcomed further investment by Taiwanese companies, which will allow Slovakia to gain a competitive advantage by providing required skills across a number of industries. Slovakia hopes to continue enhancing economic cooperation with Taiwan, in addition to intensifying collaboration on scientific research, healthcare, education and culture.