President Tsai Ing-wen (eighth from right); Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
Taipei, Aug. 3 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen said Thursday during a meeting with British members of Parliament that she hopes ties between Taiwan and the United Kingdom will continue to strengthen.
There have been frequent mutual visit between lawmakers and central and local government officials from Taiwan and the U.K. over the past year, which has made a solid foundation for the two sides to work on future relations, Tsai said.
She made the remarks during her meeting with an 11-member delegation of representatives of both houses of the U.K. parliament led by Andrew Rosindell, vice chairman of the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group.
Fields in which Taiwan hopes to cooperate with the U.K. include green technology, national defense development, smart machines, agriculture, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, she said.
Tsai also touched on the issue of offshore wind power development, saying that Taiwan will clear all possible investment hurdles to encourage partnerships with the U.K.
The countries have maintained close ties in areas such as economy and trade, mutual judicial assistance, tourism, transportation, and youth exchanges, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Last year, the U.K. was Taiwan's third-largest trading partner in Europe, while Taiwan was the U.K.'s eighth-largest trading partner in the Asia-Pacific, with bilateral trade reaching US$5.85 billion, it said.
The delegation's visit from July 30 to Aug. 5 is aimed at giving the parliamentarians a better understanding of Taiwan's current political and economic developments, innovative industries, diplomatic relations and cross-Taiwan Strait relations, the ministry said.
They will also gain insights on Taiwan-U.K. economic and trade relations and railway industry cooperation, while advancing inter-parliamentary exchanges, it said.
