The Australian Office
Representative Mr Gary Cowan
Taiwan-Australia Business Networking Meeting held on 27 October
Acknowledgements
· ROC-Australia Business Council Chairman Yang Wei-Fuu
· Australia-Taiwan Business Council Chairman John Toigo
· CIECA Chairman and I-Mei Foods Chairman Henry Kao
· MOFA Deputy Minister Tien Chung-kwang
· National Policy Adviser, Office of the President, Jason Lin
· BOFT Deputy Director-General Lee Guann-jyh
· ANZCham Taipei Chairman Damien Van Eyk
· Distinguished panellists, guests, ladies and gentlemen.
Remarks
On this beautiful autumn morning in Taipei, it is good to see so many members of the ROC-Australia Business Council, the Australia-Taiwan Business Council and the Australia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce (ANZCham) here. The two Councils and the Chamber of Commerce have a vital role to play in strengthening our bilateral business relations. The Australia-Taiwan Business Council makes an important annual submission to our Bilateral Economic Consultations on structural improvements to the economic framework between Australia and Taiwan. ANZCham is about to release its first white paper on improvements to the operating environment in Taiwan. And events like today help deepen our linkages.
We’ve already come a long way. Taiwan and Australia have a strong and enduring economic partnership, which continues to go from strength to strength even as we chart a course out of the current pandemic.
Just last year, Australia’s goods and services trade with Taiwan grew 14 per cent to reach over $20 billion for the first time, making us Taiwan’s largest energy supplier and sixth largest source of agriculture imports. And two-way investment has also been growing strongly, up 38 per cent in 2019 to $27 billion. Many of those sitting here have played important roles in this growth, from iron ore, to LNG, to agriculture, to pharmaceuticals, and to renewable energy, including wind power. We applaud your contributions.
COVID has, despite its challenges, actually seen our cooperation deepen. During the onset of the pandemic, we worked closely with Taiwan to ensure urgently needed raw surgical mask materials were shipped quickly to manufacturers in Australia to maintain our production capability. And one of our companies continued to provide Taiwan with millions of litres of much needed ethanol for sanitation. Australia has also continued to supply key agricultural inputs through the International Freight Assistance Mechanism. This is the way solid, trusting trade relationships work.
And we have been a staunch and vocal supporter of Taiwan’s case to participate in the World Health Assembly.
Taiwan has, of course, done an enviable job of controlling COVID‑19. Australia is now on the verge of quelling our own domestic outbreak. We look forward to being fully open internally by December as well as to reciprocal international opening, starting with New Zealand.
Looking forward, we are both now committed to providing concrete assistance to Indo-Pacific neighbours who face greater challenges, recognising that our common prosperity depends on an effective, coordinated regional response. Taiwan has shown that it can and does help, including your much appreciated donations of PPE to Australia and elsewhere. And Australia is helping too, including through large scale emergency economic assistance to the Pacific and by big contributions to support our developing Pacific and Southeast Asian neighbours to access COVID-19 vaccines once they become available.
As we move beyond the pandemic, we can also look forward to further deepening bilateral cooperation. The synergies between our economies mean that there are still many opportunities to unearth. Tomorrow, Australia will virtually host the 24th iteration of our bilateral economic dialogue. And in November, the Australian Office is hosting a series of “Rediscover Australia” events in the lead-up to 40th anniversary celebrations of my office’s founding. Some examples include our annual energy and minerals dialogue, a seminar examining the future potential of hydrogen, an education expo, wine-tasting, as well as other business and cultural functions reflecting the breadth of our relationship. I encourage you all to participate and use the opportunities to explore deeper cooperation.
Finally, I would like to again thank the business councils and everyone gathered here today for your work developing the collaborative, consultative ways of doing business that will help both Taiwan and Australia navigate the changes ahead.