His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) for Asia Pacific, Martin
Kent is currently in Taiwan conducting a 5-day visit to broaden
and deepen trade and investment links between the UK and Taiwan.
The key purpose of the visit is to meet with Taiwan’s
International Trade Administration of the Ministry of Economic
Affairs, to prepare discussion topics for the 26th annual
UK-Taiwan Trade Talks due to take place in London in November.
HMTC will also meet with Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs,
Chern-Chyi Chen, who will co-chair the Trade Talks alongside
, the UK’s Minister for
International Trade at the Department for Business and Trade. He
will also meet with Minister without Portfolio and Chief Trade
Negotiator, John Deng to continue talks on the UK-Taiwan Enhanced
Trade Partnership (ETP) announced earlier this year.
During his visit, HMTC will meet with key representatives of UK
businesses in Taiwan to understand the market opportunities, as
well as key Taiwanese companies, including China Airlines and
GlobalWafers to explore collaboration.
HMTC will also meet with Taiwan’s Smart Capital Investors’ Club
to share more about the UK as Europe’s most popular investment
destination. The UK has long been at the forefront of global
exploration, invention and innovation. World-leading companies
choose the UK as a place to invest, research, manufacture and
grow. Global multinationals have created more subsidiaries in the
UK (28,707) than anywhere else, outside of China and the USA. In
November, the UK will host its second Global Investment Summit,
which will bring more than 200 of the world’s highest profile
investors, CEOs and financiers to showcase the UK as a world
leading investment destination.
The UK and Taiwan already have a thriving trade relationship
based on collaboration in key areas such as offshore wind.
Through this visit and wider engagement we are broadening this to
include new areas in the technology-related sectors, including
semiconductors. The UK has a long and exceptional history
attracting foreign direct investments to its tech sector, which
is worth over $1 trillion. It is only the third country globally
to reach this landmark valuation, and has produced more unicorns
than any other European country at over 160. The UK’s startup
ecosystem also ranks the first in Europe and 3rd globally in
terms of VC investment raised. There are more than 180 Taiwanese
companies established in the UK.
The UK-Taiwan bilateral trade and investment relationship is
going from strength-to-strength with total trade in goods and
services reaching £8.6 billion in 2022. Total UK exports to
Taiwan in 2022 hit £3.9 billion, with an 18.2% year-on-year
increase in goods exports. Taiwan is now the UK’s 5th largest
trading partner in the Asia Pacific region, and the UK is
Taiwan’s 3rd largest trading partner in Europe.
Martin Kent, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Asia Pacific,
said:
I look forward to promoting UK-Taiwan trade growth from its
existing bilateral level of £8.6 billion per year using the
upcoming Trade Talks and Enhanced Trade Partnership as a
catalyst. I am also prioritising promoting investment into our
world-leading UK clean growth sector, as well as exploring
broader partnerships in science, tech, research and development.
John Dennis, Representative at the British Office Taipei said:
Trade & investment play an enormous part in the bilateral
partnership between the UK and Taiwan, and I am delighted to
welcome Martin Kent, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner to Taiwan.
We have huge momentum to deliver economic growth for both the UK
and Taiwan, and the visit is another testament to the importance
of our partnership to maximise opportunities and tackle current
challenges together.
More information
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Martin Kent has been appointed as His Majesty’s Trade
Commissioner for Asia Pacific on 18 September 2023, joining a
team of nine HM Trade Commissioners encouraging UK trade and
investment and promoting Global Britain across the world. See
the announcement at
GOV.UK
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Martin Kent’s
biography
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‘Unicorn’ is the term used in the venture capital industry to
describe a startup company with a value of over $1 billion.
