Minister Kung Ming-hsin of the National Development Council (NDC) accepted the 2024 Position Papers from the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT) and attended the presntation conference on behalf of the government on November 23, 2023. The ECCT recognized Taiwan’s accomplishment in maintaining steady economic growth while facing geopolitical instability. The ECCT also spoke highly of Taiwan for actively addressing issues raised by the ECCT, and making progress in 20% of these issues. In response, Kung first thanked the ECCT for supporting Taiwan with its actions over the years. He pointed out that trade and investments between Taiwan and Europe have rapidly grown in recent years, with total trade surpassing US$75 billion and direct investments by European companies in Taiwan surpassing US$57 billion in 2022. Kung called on the ECCT to strongly support the signing of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BIA).
During his speech, Kung said that in view of the rapid growth of trade and investments in recent years, the NDC has sent delegations to Europe every year since 2021. In July this year (2023), the delegation visited the Czech Republic, Poland, and France for exchanges in trade, industry, scientific research cooperation, and talent recruitment. The Plan to Strengthen Ties with Europe implemented last year (2022) established the Central and Eastern Europe Investment Fund and Central and Eastern Europe Credit Fund, which have approved 10 applications to date, with investments and loans reaching a total of €40 million. More applications are expected to be approved before the end of this year, showing that the plan has already achieved preliminary results in facilitating bilateral trade and investments between Taiwan and Europe.
The theme of the ECCT's Position Papers this year was "Setting a Course for Economic Revival." It provided recommendations for energy transition, expansion of talent pool, and reinforcement of internationalization, as well as expressing the intention to work with Taiwan in determining the best route to strengthen Taiwan's resilience and appeal. Kung pointed out that the government is currently exerting every effort in the development towards net zero emissions and energy transition, strengthening population and immigration policies, promoting bilingual policy, and increasing transparency, all of which are aligned with the policy directions recommended by the ECCT.
With regard to energy transition, Kung stressed that the only solution to energy transition is to develop renewable energy. Taiwan began implementing energy transition in 2016, and announced "Taiwan's Pathway to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050" and "12 Key Strategies" last year, setting the policy goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. At present, the installed capacity of offshore wind power and solar power has reached 14.1 GW, which is seven times the capacity in 2016 (1.9 GW). In the implementation of offshore wind power, Kung highlighted that Taiwan will have over 270 wind turbines by the end of this year, and that Taiwan has become a leading Asian country in the development of offshore wind power with the assistance European developers. Even Japan and South Korea had sent delegations to visit Taiwan in recent years to learn from Taiwan's experience. The Ministry of Economic Affairs has held numerous presentations of the mechanisms planned for phase two offshore wind power block development, and continues to communicate with various sectors to build consensus on formulating the appropriate evaluation standards. Meanwhile, for the development of geothermal energy, an amendment to the Renewable Energy Development Act was completed in June this year. In the future, Taiwan will also welcome European companies with advanced technologies to jointly develop geothermal energy resources in Taiwan.
As for electric vehicles, in the "Carbon-Free & Electric Vehicles," a key strategy action plan for Taiwan's transition to net zero emissions by 2050, the government declared a goal whereby all small passenger cars and scooters sold in the market will be electric by 2040. Regarding charging facilities, the government is promoting the installation of electric vehicle charging equipment in public buildings and parking lots. As for charging facilities in apartment buildings and other buildings, the Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Transportation and Communications are currently formulating measures for citizens to install such facilities, while maintaining electrical safety.
The NDC and related departments are strengthening population and immigration policies to expand the talent pool, including building a friendly living environment and expanding the recruitment of overseas Chinese and foreign students. Kung pointed out that only some 30,000 foreign professionals were employed in Taiwan in 2015. After the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals was enacted in 2017, the number of foreign professional employment permits currently reaches 56,000. The government also established the International Talent Taiwan Office, which was opened on November 1, 2023. Besides providing services to holders of Employment Gold Card, the office also expanded services to general foreign professionals, entrepreneurs, and their dependents, providing foreign professionals with one-stop services in Taiwan.
To increase internationalization, Kung thanked the ECCT for regulatory recommendations in the Position Papers, which allowed Taiwan to conduct a review and adopt regulations in line with high international standards, as well as successfully signing the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade within a short period of time.
Kung said that the NDC convenes numerous meetings each year for face-to-face communication between departments and the ECCT regarding the Position Papers, and will continue to utilize the mechanism to improve Taiwan's business environment in the future.
Sources：NDC
