The annual economic consultations between Poland and Taiwan have a tradition of several years. This year’s meeting resulted in signing an agreement between the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and the Taiwanese Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, as well as an agreement between the Polish Centre for Accreditation and the Taiwan Accreditation Foundation.

The deputy heads of economic ministries of Poland and Taiwan discussed, inter alia, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on mutual trade relations and on the socio-economic situation in the world. In this context, the topics of cooperation in the fields of electromobility and cybersecurity were also discussed.

– I am pleased that after two years, against all the adversities caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, both sides were able to resume the economic dialogue. Our consultation plays an essential role in this respect, said Krzysztof Mazur, Deputy Minister of Economic Development during the meeting.

As he further stressed, the pandemic did not significantly harm the two-way trade between the two countries. In the first half of 2020, it has increased by nearly 6% year on year, with a significant increase in Polish exports. Taiwan remains Poland’s seventh trade partner in East Asia.

– I am convinced that there are more opportunities to develop our trade. In particular, we would like to receive support in opening the Taiwanese market to Polish agricultural products, said the deputy minister.

Krzysztof Mazur noted also, that pandemic demonstrated the need to diversify the existing supply chain, revealing the detrimental effects of over-reliance on a single supplier in certain sensitive sectors such as pharmaceuticals.

As he further stressed, more recently, the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council agreed to work more closely together to increase the resilience of the global supply chain, including by developing it in regions such as the Visegrad Group.

– I can assure that Poland is ready to cooperate with Taiwan in this field – said the deputy minister.

Poland-Taiwan cooperation in electromobility

Poland is one of the main producers of batteries for electric vehicles and buses, as well as components and spare parts for vehicles in the EU. It also plans to produce its own electric car, named Izera. We are ready to cooperate with Taiwanese entities on this project.

Poland-Taiwan cooperation – strengthening start-ups

Start-up cooperation is one of the most promising areas of the Poland-Taiwan economic relations. In the last 18 months, six Polish start-ups have qualified for the EPOCH Foundation “Garage+” incubation project for young innovative companies.

Polish start-ups also successfully applied to other similar programmes in Taiwan, such as Talents Taipei and Mobile Heroes. The signing of an agreement between the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and the Taiwanese Small and Medium Enterprise Administration is to support the development of further cooperation in this field.