MOEA praises Taiwan-UK economic ties

 London could see an influx of Taiwan Britain Business Council-brokered investment from ROC firms looking to capitalize on a potential Olympic windfall this year. (CNA)  ‧Publication Date：04/24/2012 Taiwan Today   The healthy state of Taiwan-U.K. economic relations is represented by strong growth in bilateral trade and investment last year amid global uncertainty, said Lin Sheng-chung, deputy head of the ROC Ministry of Economic Affairs, April 23 in London.   Taiwan imports from the U.K. grew 15.49 percent to 1.25 billion pounds (US$2.02 billion), while the island's exports to Britain increased 27.6 percent to 3 billion pounds, Lin said.   Two-way investment was up from the year before and as of February, Lin said, Taiwan companies had spent 327 million pounds on their U.K. operations. Over the same period, British firms invested 4.1 billion pounds in Taiwan, spanning various sectors such as chemicals, financial services, machinery and medicine, he added.   Lin made the remarks while addressing the 14th joint meeting of the Taiwan Britain Business Council. Comprising senior corporate leaders from Taiwan and the U.K., the council seeks to foster trade and investment links between the two countries.   Taiwan's 56-strong delegation to the two-day event, which wraps up April 24, is headed by Koo Cheng-yun, chairman of Taiwan Cement Corp. The group will meet its British counterpart, led by Thomas Harris, vice chairman of Standard Chartered Capital Markets Ltd., and take part in a series of seminars and field trips.   The deputy minister believes both nations can achieve even better results going forward with the council serving as a valuable platform for dialogue.   "Taiwan companies have long seen the U.K. as a favorable destination for their European headquarters," Lin said, citing HTC Corp. and Holy Stone Healthcare Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Taipei City-based multilayer ceramic capacitor producer, Holy Stone Enterprise Co. Ltd.   Commenting on the European sovereign debt crisis, Lin said he is bullish on recent developments given that the EU has the will and means to tackle the issue.   "The debt crisis did not overly impact our economy since we are not large holders of EU bonds and our top European trade partners, France, Germany and the U.K., remain economically strong," he said.   The deputy minister said this fact is illustrated by forecasts of economic growth for Taiwan between 3.7 percent and 4.19 percent in 2012, compared with 4.03 percent last year and 10.72 percent in 2010. (JSM)