Taiwan, U.S. launch industry cooperation office in Taipei

 2012/08/10 14:21:55Taipei, Aug. 10 (CNA) Taiwan and the United States inaugurated an office in Taipei Friday to strengthen economic and trade cooperation between the two sides, Economics Minister Shih Yen-shiang said that day.The Taiwan-U.S. Industrial Cooperation Promotion Office will serve as an exclusive window to provide services and assistance for U.S. companies, Shih said at the inauguration ceremony.Describing the collaboration as "a milestone," Shih said the office will initially focus on four fields, including biotechnology, intellectual property, information and communications technology, as well as the green industry.Such bilateral cooperation will be complementary and enable both sides to leverage each other's advantages to nurture emerging industries with rapid commercialization capabilities, the minister said."(Such cooperation) is a crucial part of upgrading and reforming industry," in line with global trends, he added.The Taiwan-U.S. economic and trade ties are "very close," Shih said, pointing out that the U.S. was Taiwan's third-largest trade partner in 2010 and Taiwan was the ninth largest for the U.S.In 2011, exports to the U.S. totaled US$36.36 billion, while imports from the country amounted to US$25.75 billion, according to government statistics.The U.S. is also the main country with which Taiwan cooperates on and procures technologies, he added. In 2009, Taiwan cooperated on and procured technologies from the U.S. worth NT$71.26 billion (US$2.38 billion), accounting for 66.9 percent of technology-related procurements and cooperation projects for the year.Moreover, a number of Taiwanese businesses are participating in Select USA, U.S. President Barack Obama's initiative to attract both domestic and foreign investment.As of the end of April, Taiwanese companies have injected US$13 billion in 5,112 investment projects in the U.S., accounting for 19 percent of Taiwan's outbound investment, which is the second largest amount of investment in a single country.Alan Tousignant, economic chief of the American Institute in Taiwan, who also attended the inauguration ceremony, supported Shih's views, saying the office will highlight each side's strengths and lead to more efficient links for research, production and distribution.