The European Union Economic and Trade Officer in Taiwan, Mr. Adams GAGEN has described the Republic of China on Taiwan as a country with great potential for investment.
He made these remarks on Wednesday July 29th 2009, at Chien-Tan Overseas Youth Activity Centre in Taipei, where he addressed the participants of the Taiwanese International Culture and Study Tour.
According to him, Taiwan is a developed country and as a result, they see it as a key market for the EU.
EU, he stressed, doesn't definitely exploit the full potential of the Taiwanese market. He said countries, such as India and Brazil that used to be at par with Taiwan have been overtaken in the past year and as a result, Taiwan is now in the same league as Australia and Mexico among the EU's trading partners.
"Taiwan lost only one place from 12th to 13th, exporting 24.1 billion Euros worth of goods to the EU, compared to 26 billion euros in 2007," he stated.
Noting that there are so many investment opportunities in Taiwan, he said "Investing here is just like doing business in any part of Europe."
"We have a very good cooperation in Taiwan and we are looking forward to boost EU business opportunities here," he added.
In Taiwan, he added, one can always get reliable and good business partners. But he lamented that Taiwan's investment in EU is very low, compared to the later's investment in China and America.
This, he added, is mainly due to the way Taiwanese people perceive EU. He noted that Taiwanese people should know that EU is likewise a great potential that they should also capitalise on.
The EU representative also revealed that later this year, his office will send some Taiwanese journalists to Europe so as to widen their scope of understanding on the EU.
For CC Lin, the Head of Press and Information European Economic and Trade Office in Taipei, if Taiwan can open up its tourism industry for foreign investors, it would be a great deal.