Premier Cho Jung-tai on Monday received Ruth Bradley-Jones, representative at the British Office Taipei. The premier noted that the U.K. officially joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) last year, becoming the trade bloc's first European member economy. He stated that, as a crucial link in the global supply chain, Taiwan can greatly contribute to enhancing the economic and trade integration benefits of the CPTPP, and he expressed hope that the U.K. will continue to assist Taiwan's accession, so that together, both sides can foster a value-driven, advanced industrial supply chain, safeguard the international economic and trade order, and ensure global prosperity rooted in freedom.
Premier Cho also pointed out that Taiwan and the U.K. signed an Enhanced Trade Partnership arrangement in 2023, marking the first time a European country has established an institutionalized economic and trade framework with Taiwan. The arrangement focuses on deeper cooperation in investment, digital trade, energy and net-zero emissions. Looking ahead, Taiwan and the U.K. share tremendous room for further cooperation in areas such as economic and energy security; digital and financial resilience; and high tech and manufacturing innovation. The premier believes the two sides can achieve new heights of cooperative development across these diverse sectors.
In her remarks, Representative Bradley-Jones said that, in economic and trade cooperation, Taiwan's Five Trusted Industries and the U.K.'s new industrial strategy are complementary, with real potential for closer alignment in the four strategic areas of digital technologies, clean energy, advanced manufacturing and financial services. She added that the U.K. government continues to support Taiwan and U.K. businesses through the Enhanced Trade Partnership and annual trade talks.
In digital technologies, Representative Bradley-Jones highlighted that both sides are well-positioned to collaborate on new technologies such as in artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors and cyber, working together to develop a secure and resilient global supply chain. Regarding clean energy, she noted that the U.K. has long been a top partner in supporting Taiwan's development of offshore wind power. On the topic of Taiwan's resilience and security, Representative Bradley-Jones emphasized that the U.K. is a strong supporter of Taiwan's efforts to achieve whole-of-society resilience, and that both sides have much to learn from each other, whether that is in telecommunications resilience, cyber or the resilience of democratic systems.