TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan and Italy can enhance bilateral cooperation via their respective national policies, Taiwan representative to Italy Vincent Y.C. Tsai (蔡允中) proposed recently.
Through Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy and Italy’s Mattei Plan, the two countries can promote economic development across Asia, Europe, and Africa. The focus will be on infrastructure and industries including textiles and shoemaking, automotive manufacturing, heavy machinery production, ICT, e-commerce, clean energy, healthcare, smart cities, and agriculture, he said in an interview with Italian newspaper Le Formiche.
Education and vocational training and narrowing the development gap between countries and would provide more opportunities for Taiwanese businesses to expand into overseas markets such as Africa, the representative said. It would also allow Taiwan to offer more substantial assistance internationally, demonstrating the spirit of "Taiwan Can Help."
Tsai pointed out that Taiwan has already begun semiconductor industry collaboration in Italy, with investments exceeding hundreds of millions of euros in the production of advanced silicon wafers in northern Italy. The Taiwan government provides quotas for Italian government officials to visit for short-term studies and research in semiconductor technology, he said.
Through dialogue and exchanges, Taiwan and Italy's local governments are establishing close connections and cooperation mechanisms, he said.
Commenting on Taiwan's international participation, Tsai said that Taiwan is a responsible member of the global community. Despite not being a U.N. member state, Taiwan has long formulated and implemented its own Sustainable Development Goals based on the U.N. framework, he said.
Taiwan is a sovereign country with its own currency, military, and president, and has a government elected by its 23 million citizens, Tsai said. However, the country is deprived of the right and opportunity to help people worldwide, and this gap must be filled to make it part of the global system, he said.
