Taiwan aims to open a second representative office in Italy this summer in Milan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday.
According to Vincent Yao (姚金祥), the head of MOFA's Department of European Affairs, the ministry has recently acquired rental space for the new office.
If everything goes as planned, the new office, which will have five staff, could open in June or July, Yao told reporters during a MOFA briefing.
The main focus for the new office is to facilitate closer economic and trade ties with Milan, Italy's financial capital and its most prosperous manufacturing and commercial city, Yao said.
The office will also provide consular and emergency services to citizens in northern Italy, a popular travel destination for Taiwanese tourists, Yao added.
Last October, Taiwan's EVA Airways launched a new passenger service between Taipei and Milan.
Yao said that communication with the Italian government on opening the office -- the "Ufficio di Rappresentanza di Taipei in Italia-Ufficio di Milano," or Taipei Representative Office in Italy - Milan Office -- had gone smoothly.
Taiwan currently has only one representative office in Italy, in Rome.
The new Milan office will see Italy join the United Kingom, Germany, France and Switzerland as the fifth European country with more than one Taiwanese representative office.
