Taiwan focuses on EU trade deal to protect textile industry

14 Oct '11

2 min read

Taiwan is hoping to sign a trade deal with EU within the next two years to protect its textile industry from Korean competition.

Textile and chemical exports from Taiwan to China enjoy a comparative advantage over exports from other countries like Korea, Japan and ASEAN nations, ever since Taiwan inked an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with mainland China, Vice Economics Minister Lin Sheng-chung said.

However, the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and South Korea which became effective from July 1 this year has come as a threat to Taiwan, as Korea is the toughest competitor for Taiwan in the world market.

Thus, in order to safeguard the interests of Taiwanese enterprises there is a need to expedite the efforts to finalize an economic cooperation agreement (ECA) with the European Union, for which Taiwan has gained support of the UK, Mr. Lin said.

Taiwan's Vice Economics Minister, who is on a tour of European nations to push for the proposed ECA with EU, while addressing a group of Taiwanese entrepreneurs during a meeting in London said with an expectation to finalize the trade deal within next couple of years, Taiwan would persist with its efforts to gain support from other EU nations.

Next to Czech Republic and Ireland, Britain is the third destination of Mr. Lin's EU tour.

Mr. Lin further said that a resolution adopted by the European Parliament in support of the ECA on May 11 has proved to be of great help for Taiwan's lobbying efforts in EU.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

More Textiles News - Taiwan...