European FDI reaches US$30 billion milestone

The vice president made the comments yesterday at the European Chamber of Commerce Taipei's (ECCT, 歐洲商會) monthly luncheon, while talking about the lopsided direct investments between Taiwan and the European Union.

In October this year, the annual cumulative Taiwan investments in the EU amounted to only US$2.8 billion compared to US$30 billion European investment in Taiwan over the same period.

“(Even though) Europe is the largest source of foreign investment in Taiwan, European investment in South Korea is three times higher ... and to attract more European capital ... further effort is needed to make Taiwan more competitive and to improve our investment climate,” Siew said.

The vice president believes that the EU and Taiwan can establish a closer and more mutually beneficial economic and trade partnership while using the advantage of the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) to “embark upon the mainland China market.”

Siew said he is confident that the Ma administration has “implemented several reform measures (to attract more European investments) that have already proven quite successful,” and that the European investment in Taiwan “will soon pass the next US$30 billion milestone.”

To strengthen trade between Taiwan and Europe, the Council of Economic Planning and Development has recently held meetings to discuss the ECCT Position Paper and to adopt de-regulatory actions. As result, the council has already decided to simplify investment decision report requirements, to raise the cap on investment (QDIIs) to US$100 million per investment, to allow QDIIs to make a broader range of investments, and to ease restrictions on travel to Taiwan by business professionals from mainland China.

In his opening remarks during the event, ECCT Chairman Chris James also stressed that “Europeans have played an important role in Taiwan's rapid development by bringing investment, skills and technology to Taiwan.”

According to official statistics released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Investment Commission, FDI by European investors in Taiwan reached the US$30.125 billion milestone this October.

European investment accounts for approximately 25 percent of all foreign direct investment in Taiwan, and is the largest foreign investing group, leading the total direct investment of both the United States and Japan.

James explained that European investment in Taiwan and the number of ECCT members have seen an increase, and “the increase in investments over the past two decades indicates that Europeans remain confident in Taiwan's economic prospects.”

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