President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) says Taiwan looks forward to building a more resilient global supply chain with democratic countries like the UK. Tsai was speaking on Wednesday while meeting with UK Trade Minister Greg Hands.
Tsai praises the strong cooperation between Taiwan and the UK in the areas of technology, trade and energy. Tsai says she looks forward to further promoting trade and investment between the two countries. The president hopes the two sides will work together to facilitate the signing of bilateral investment and trade agreements.
Tsai says she hopes that the UK will become a member of a key Asia-Pacific free trade agreement, the CPTPP. She hopes the UK will support Taiwan's bid to join the agreement.
Meanwhile, Hands acknowledges Taiwan's achievements in epidemic prevention and thanked Taiwan for lifting border controls, which allowed the annual Taiwan-UK Trade Talks to proceed in person.
Hands emphasizes that trade relations between the two nations have become closer. He says last year alone, trade volume between the two sides increased by 25%. Hands says both Taiwan and the UK have many things in common and have faced similar challenges together.