President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of September 14 with United States Assistant Secretary of Commerce Suresh Kumar, and on behalf of the government and people of the ROC extended a cordial welcome to Assistant Secretary Kumar on his visit to Taiwan to participate in a "60 Years of Partnership" celebration jointly held by the ROC's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei.
The president remarked that US President Barack Obama in February of last year appointed Mr. Kumar to his current post, in which his main responsibility is to promote trade. Mr. Kumar is also serving as the Director General of the US & Foreign Commercial Service (USFSC) at the Department of Commerce, the president pointed out, noting that he is responsible for overseeing 109 trade offices across the United States and 127 offices overseas in 77 countries. Here in Taiwan, the US Commercial Service at the American Institute in Taiwan has ranked at the top within the Commercial Service for number of export successes for the last two years in a row.
President Ma stated that trade between the ROC and the United States has consistently been quite buoyant. Thirty years ago, the United States absorbed over half of Taiwan's exports, he stated. Last year, bilateral trade hit US$56.8 billion, up 36.3% from the previous year, including export growth of 33.6% (to US$31.4 billion) and import growth of 39.8% (to US$25.3 billion). Besides the strong trade growth, the president said that last year investments in Taiwan by the United States came to US$21.6 billion, and accounted for 20% of Taiwan's total foreign direct investment. Furthermore, Taiwan is the ninth largest trading partner of the United States (13th largest export market, and ninth largest source of imports), he stated, further mentioning that Taiwan is the sixth largest export market for US agricultural products. On a per capita consumption basis, Taiwan ranks as the second largest market for American agricultural goods.
The president furthermore noted that the United States has many investments in Taiwan, and in an effort to boost exports has formulated the National Export Initiative. Taiwan, the president remarked, is pleased to see this initiative, and hopes that the United States will in the near future include Taiwan in its Visa Waiver Program. He said he is confident that this would increase the number of Taiwanese visiting the United States and help to realize the objectives of the National Export Initiative. President Ma indicated that the UK two years ago granted visitors from Taiwan visa-free courtesies, and subsequently the number of visits to the UK last year by Taiwanese increased 150%, while bilateral trade grew 25%. Pointing to these statistics as an example, the president said that granting visa-free treatment provides a powerful boost for tourism and trade.
President Ma mentioned that last year Taiwan and mainland China signed the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), which has helped to further enhance Taiwan's overall competitiveness. For example, the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei in the beginning of this year issued a report in which it rated Taiwan's business environment quite favorably. It also recognized the contribution that the signing of the ECFA is making to Taiwan's overall trade and investment. The president expressed his hope that the ECFA will help to generate further business opportunities between Taiwan and the United States in the future, saying that American companies could establish operational headquarters here and jointly develop the mainland market with their local counterparts.
President Ma stressed that over the past 60 years, Taiwan and the United States have forged a win-win relationship in their economic, military, educational, and technology ties. He said he hopes this positive relationship will continue in the future.
Assistant Secretary Kumar expressed his appreciation to President Ma for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with him, and called for continued efforts to strengthen trade exchanges and cooperation so as to promote wellbeing for the people of both nations.
Assistant Secretary Kumar was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ssu-Tsun Shen (沈斯淳) and Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Francis Kuo-Hsin Liang (梁國新) to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Chih-kung Liu (劉志攻).
【Source: Office of the President】