On 25 June, Minister of Economic Affairs Jong-Chin Shen and European Commission Director-General for Communication Timo Pesonen jointly hosted the 5th Taiwan-EU Industry Policy dialogue in Brussels.
The theme of this year’s dialogue was “Moving towards smart, innovative and sustainable industries”. The two sides exchanged ideas on “digital policy and innovation”, “commercial innovation”, “sustainable and low-carbon economy” and “space technology industry”.
Minister Shen remarked that Taiwan and the EU have been close partners in industrial cooperation and that the two sides should seize the moment to sign a bilateral trade agreement (BIA). Shen also highlighted the strong similarities between EU projects such as “digital Europe” and “sustainable economy” and Taiwan’s own “5+2 Industrial Innovation Strategy”.
Director-General Pesonen commented that Taiwan-EU relations are deepening and will continue to grow closer. He added that these dialogues are important in view of the rise of trade protectionism.
The two sides agreed to further build on their existing cooperation and to hold the next Industry Policy Dialogue in Taiwan in 2020.