President Tsai Ing-wen said April 2 that she hopes the U.K. will support Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership to build a closer bilateral partnership and make joint global contributions.

Tsai made the remarks while meeting with a U.K. Labour Party delegation led by Lord Leong CBE, co-chair of Labour Friends of Taiwan and shadow spokesperson for business and trade, at the Presidential Office in Taipei City.

The president first thanked the British parliament for emphasizing the importance of peace across the Taiwan Strait, as evidenced by reports on the Indo-Pacific published by the House of Commons Defence and Foreign Affairs committees last year.

According to Tsai, collaboration between Taiwan and the U.K. has yielded fruitful results in areas spanning economy, offshore wind power as well as science and technology in recent years. She cited the Taiwan-U.K. Enhanced Trade Partnership arrangement inked last year as an example, adding that she believes the two sides will continue to deepen cooperation in fields such as digital trade, investment, net-zero carbon emissions and renewable energy.

In response, Lord Leong said the current visit will focus on small- and medium-sized enterprises as he has championed the vital role of SMEs in building an agile and forward-looking economy. Leong also noted that Taiwan’s SMEs account for 98 percent of enterprises and went on to highlight the remarkable success story of Taiwan’s Kavalan Whisky.

Leong expressed hope that the delegation would visit again to continue strengthening bilateral commercial, cultural and educational ties, and wished Taiwan every success under President-elect Lai Ching-te. (YCH-E)

Source: Taiwantoday.tw