President Ma Ying-jeou says the time is right for an economic agreement with the European Union. He was speaking to a visiting delegation of the European Parliament’s Taiwan Friendship Group.
The group consists of over 100 members, making it the largest subgroup in the European Parliament. President Ma said the group has shown much support for Taiwan, helping to gain visa-free entry to the EU for Taiwanese passport-holders and backing Taiwan’s participation in the WHO.
Ma said that Taiwan and the EU are discussing agreements on working holidays, removing the need to change drivers’ licenses and avoiding double taxation. He said the EU is Taiwan’s biggest source of foreign investment and now is the right time for an economic cooperation agreement between the two sides.
"After coming into office, we first signed the ECFA with our biggest trade partner, China," said Ma. "Then we signed an investment agreement with Japan and economic cooperation agreements with Singapore and New Zealand. Now we’ve renewed Trade and Investment Framework Agreement talks with the US. Because of all this, we believe it is a good time to consider an economic cooperation agreement with the EU."
The president said research by a Danish think tank shows that if Taiwan and the EU sign an economic cooperation agreement, bilateral trade volume would increase by 10 billion euros. Ma said he hopes that the Taiwan Friendship Group will work towards this end.