Mr. James C.F. Huang, Chairman, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) visited the World Trade Centre (WTC) Mumbai to interact and discuss the future of TAITRA and WTC Mumbai in furthering Indo-Taiwanese bilateral relations with top officials of the Centre in an interactive meeting on June 22, 2017. Mr. Huang said, “Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) is promoting India as the future economic partner of Taiwan. India is a great civilization and an emerging superpower. Recently, India has overtaken Britain as the sixth largest economy in the world. The new government in Taiwan, which was formed last year, has planned to set up five innovation centres across sectors such as smart machinery, renewable energy, biotechnology and defence. I hope the economic policy of the Government of Taiwan will create opportunities for co-operation with Government of India’s ambitious programmes such as Make in India, Digital India, Smart Cities, Skill India etc.”.

Captain Somesh Batra, Vice Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai remarked, ”Taiwan is a leader in industrial technologies, while India has huge land and large youth population. We value our relationship with Taiwan. Both the countries can partner in agriculture, food processing, electronics, infrastructure and many others sectors of mutual complementarities. For long term and smooth business growth in India, it is preferable to follow the joint venture route rather than full ownership. This will ensure positive and beneficial results for India–Taiwan business.”

Sharing his views on the Indian economy, Captain Batra opined that the economy has great inherent strengths. The progressive reforms taken by Government of India will bear fruit in the next two-three years. “Government of India’s policy measures such as Make in India, setting up industrial corridors, upgrading ports, power and road infrastructure, promoting less-cash economy and improving ease of doing business will bear fruit in the next two-three years. The Indian economy, which is growing at 7.5% currently, will expand at an even faster pace of 8% after two years because of these policy measures,” Captain Batra added.

Captain Batra also invited Taiwanese companies to explore business opportunities in Goa, Rajasthan and Odisha which are the emerging industrial centres of India. Odisha is a leading state in mining and metals industry, while tourism and ports are dominant sectors in Goa. Rajasthan is an emerging destination for various manufacturing industries, besides hospitality, Captain Batra added.

Captain Batra also highlighted the need to increase people-to-people contact between both countries for better understanding of each others’ culture. Policymakers in Taiwan and India must simplify visa regime to promote easier movement of people. He also suggested TAITRA to set up coaching centres to train Indians on Mandarin language which is spoken in Taiwan.

Ms. Rupa Naik, Director-Projects, MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai remarked, “Companies in Taiwan can facilitate India’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to join the global value chain. MSMEs in Taiwan are vibrant and they are leaders in technology. We invite companies from Taiwan to participate in the Global Economic Summit on the theme ‘Global Value Chain’ to be organized by World Trade Centre Mumbai in 2018.”

In Photo: Captain Somesh Batra, Vice Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Centre Mumbai (left) felicitating Mr. James C. F. Huang, Chairman, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) (right).