On October 29, 2020 (Taiwan time), Taiwan and the United States held their first bilateral working group video conference. The meeting was jointly held by our Political Deputy Minister of Finance Ching-Hwa Juan and the U.S. Department of Treasury Assistant Secretary for International Markets Mitchell Silk. The two sides had a dialogue on joint collaboration in regional infrastructure investment, finance and market building.
The Ministry of Finance (MOF) stated that Taiwan and the United States signed a framework to strengthen infrastructure finance and market building cooperation on September 17, 2020, in acknowledgment of both nations’ commitment to regional infrastructure development. In order to identify future potential cooperation projects, models and related issues, both sides held the first working group meeting on October 29 of this year. The opening remarks from the U.S. was delivered by the U.S. Department of Treasury Assistant Secretary for International Markets Mitchell Silk and AIT Taipei Director Brent Christensen. The opening remarks from our side was delivered by TECRO Representative to the U.S. Bi-Khim Hsiao and our Political Deputy Minister of Finance Ching-Hwa Juan. Both sides affirmed the significance of this meeting in taking the Taiwan-U.S. partnership to a new level.
The MOF further mentioned that this working group meeting covered a wide range of topics, including infrastructure, energy, trade investment, finance and other topics. The U.S. participants included representatives from the Departments of State, Treasury, Commerce, Transportation, and Energy, the U.S. Development Finance Corporation, and AIT in Washington and Taipei. Taiwan participants included representatives from the Office of Trade Negotiations of Executive Yuan, Public Construction Commission of Executive Yuan, National Development Council, MOF, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Transportation, Financial Supervisory Commission, Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance, TERCO and the EXIM bank. Before the first Working Group Meeting was held, Ming-Hsin Kung, Minister of the National Development Council, and Jain-Rong Su, Minister of the MOF convened several pre-meetings and discussed with our related agencies to reach a consensus about the related topics to be discussed.
The MOF further stated that the discussion included the sharing of experiences of both parties in regional infrastructure investment and financing, how to establish infrastructure finance and markets, the promotion of bilateral investment, as well as the elimination of investment and taxation obstacles. Following the discussion, sub-working groups will be established according to professional expertise of each department and sectors involved in the related topics. Both sides can continue in-depth discussions on related topics and share information of specific infrastructure projects, with special emphasis on seeking potential projects where both sides can work together. Furthermore, the key factor of joint collaboration in this Framework is private sector engagement. In the follow-up, seminars and round tables will be held to promote two-way exchanges between the public and private sectors of the two parties and to engage the private sector with these infrastructure investments opportunities.
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