Taiwan expressed hope on Thursday that upcoming negotiations with the United States on a new trade initiative with the aim of signing a trade deal would benefit the country’s development in three areas.
The first round of negotiations under the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, which was jointly announced by both sides in June, is scheduled to take place in New York on Nov. 8-9, a government source told CNA earlier on Thursday.
Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations also confirmed the date of the negotiations in a statement Thursday night.
It is expected that both sides will hold intense negotiations down the road because they are both highly committed to the goal of reaching a trade agreement, albeit there is no set timeline for that, the Office of Trade Negotiations said in the statement.
Taiwan’s government is hoping that the negotiations would bring about positive results for the nation, particularly in three aspects — shaping a competitive and level playing field for investors, reducing trade costs, and expanding overseas markets for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the office said.
The U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade was unveiled by U.S. and Taiwan trade officials in June after Taiwan was excluded from the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a U.S.-led multilateral partnership involving 12 other countries, which has been touted as a counterweight to China-initiated free trade deals in the region.
The 11 trade areas to be addressed are trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, anti-corruption, SMEs, agriculture, standards, digital trade, labor, environment, state-owned enterprises, and non-market policies and practices.
According to the source, issues related to trade facilitation and SMEs might be included on the agenda of the upcoming negotiations next week.
Taiwan’s delegation will be led by Deputy Trade Representative from the Office of Trade Negotiations Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮) and comprise officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, the National Development Council, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Taiwan’s representative office in the U.S.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel