Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) for Asia-Pacific, Martin Kent, is currently in Taiwan on a 5-day visit to broaden and deepen trade and investment ties between the UK and Taiwan.
The main objective of the visit is to meet with the International Trade Administration of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, to prepare discussion topics for the 26th annual UK-Taiwan trade negotiations scheduled to take place in London in November. HMTC will also meet Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs, Chern-Chyi Chen, who will co-chair the trade negotiations alongside Nigel Huddleston, UK Minister for International Trade at the Department of Business and Trade. He will also meet Minister without Portfolio and Chief Trade Negotiator John Deng to continue discussions on the UK-Taiwan Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP) announced earlier this year.
During its visit, HMTC will meet with key representatives of UK companies in Taiwan to understand market opportunities, as well as key Taiwanese companies, including China Airlines and GlobalWafers, to explore collaboration.
HMTC will also meet with Taiwan’s Smart Capital Investors’ Club to learn more about the UK as Europe’s most popular investment destination. The UK has long been at the forefront of global exploration, invention and innovation. World-renowned businesses choose the UK as a location for investment, research, manufacturing and growth. Global multinationals have established more subsidiaries in the UK (28,707) than anywhere else outside China and the US. In November, the UK will host its second Global Investment Summit, which will bring together more than 200 of the world’s most high-profile investors, CEOs and financiers to showcase the UK as a leading investment destination in the world .
The UK and Taiwan already have a thriving trade relationship, based on collaboration in key areas such as offshore wind. Through this visit and broader engagement, we are expanding this to include new areas in technology-related sectors, including semiconductors. The UK has a long and exceptional history of foreign direct investment in its technology sector, which is worth more than $1 trillion. It is the third country in the world to reach this historic valuation and has produced more unicorns than any other European country, over 160. The UK’s startup ecosystem also ranks first in Europe and third world in terms of venture capital investments raised. There are more than 180 Taiwanese companies established in the UK.
The UK-Taiwan bilateral trade and investment relationship is strengthening, with total trade in goods and services reaching £8.6 billion in 2022. Total UK exports to Taiwan in 2022 reached £3.9 billion, up 18.2% year-on-year. -annual increase in merchandise exports. Taiwan is now the UK’s 5th largest trading partner in the Asia-Pacific region, and the UK is Taiwan’s 3rd largest trading partner in Europe.
Martin Kent, Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Asia-Pacific, said:
I look forward to promoting growth in UK-Taiwan trade from its current bilateral level of £8.6 billion per year using the upcoming trade negotiations and the Enhanced Trading Partnership as a catalyst. I am also prioritizing promoting investment in our world-leading UK clean growth sector, as well as exploring wider partnerships in science, technology, research and development.
John Dennis, representative of the UK office in Taipei, said:
Trade and investment play a huge role in the UK-Taiwan bilateral partnership, and I am delighted to welcome Martin Kent, Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner to Taiwan. We have enormous momentum to generate economic growth in the UK and Taiwan, and this visit demonstrates once again the importance of our partnership to maximize opportunities and tackle today’s challenges together.
More information
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Martin Kent was appointed as Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Asia-Pacific on 18 September 2023, joining a team of nine Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioners encouraging British trade and investment and promoting Global Britain across the world. To see the advert on GOV.UK
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“Unicorn” is the term used in the venture capital industry to describe a startup worth more than $1 billion.
