VIRTUAL BUSINESS MISSION: economic cooperation between Taiwan and Russia was discussed in WTC Moscow

VIRTUAL BUSINESS MISSION: economic cooperation between Taiwan and Russia was discussed in WTC Moscow

On the 8th of June WTC Moscow invited its partners to participate in the «Trade-economic and scientific-technical cooperation with the Taiwan business: presentation of WTC Taipei and TAITRA». This event takes place second time in the framework of special project «Virtual business mission».

During the webinar, Yulin Chung, Director of representative office in Moscow for the Taipei-Moscow economic and cultural coordination mission, presented an overview of Taiwan's economic development and the dynamics of bilateral trade between Russia and Taiwan in recent years. In his speech, Yulin Chung stressed that Russia is the main partner of Taiwan in the CIS today, therefore, mutually beneficial cooperation is of great importance for the economy of the country. Ilya Chung made a presentation of Taiwan specially for the participants, in which he told about economic potential of the region and about the products, which became a symbol of the country. Undoubtedly, for the majority of people, Taiwan is associated with tourism, but we should not forget that Taiwan is connected with a high technology. Here the gadgets of ASUS and MSI, network equipment of D-Link and HTC smartphones are manufactured and they have already gained worldwide popularity

Yulin Chang highlighted the role of Russia in economic development of Taiwan in a special way. The speaker noted that over the last ten years, the volume of imports from the Russian Federation increased by almost 2 times. Russia exports natural resources: oil, gas, iron and gold. Taiwan needs such economic cooperation, because the reserves of natural resources in Taiwan are extremely limited. Taiwan is actively exporting computer equipment, memory chips and other equipment to Russia. Today Taiwan is the third largest supplier to Russia. At the end of the presentation Yulin Chang said that in order to accelerate the development of economic cooperation of our countries we need to reduce transport costs, which can radically affect the prospects of joint cooperation.

Vincent Shaw, Director of Moscow representative office of the Taipei World Trade Center, presented to the audience the exhibition activity of Taiwan and spoke about the current trends in the market. Every year the exhibition of recent products takes place in Taipei, which showcases various products for export. The speaker noted that the Russian delegation usually takes part in such events, which is very well reflected on the development of economic cooperation. Two years ago at the exhibition «Sourcing Taiwan» there were only two buyers among the Russian delegation, but this year, March 29, 12 Russian companies attended this event. This demonstrates that our economic relations are developing and more and more Russian business partners interested in cooperation with Taiwan.

The speaker also noted the important role of award of product's quality 'Taiwan Excellence', which is given to the best products in its category every year. In 2017, this sign is marked more than 500 products. These products are brought to Russia, they are presented at the exhibition, which was conducted in Russia until 2014. Within the framework of this event the largest Taiwanese manufacturers present their products, sign contracts, and make their path to the Russian market. Vincent Shaw expressed his regret that during last three years the exhibition has not resumed its activity, and said that he hopes that a similar event would take place within the walls of WTC Moscow soon.

At the end of his speech Vincent Shaw invited the participants of the webinar to the event of the Taiwan business mission in Russia, and noted that such events provide a perfect opportunity for Russian companies to do business with Taiwanese partners. Vincent Shaw thanked the organizers of the webinar for an interesting meeting, for the opportunity to discuss economic issues and the unique opportunity to communicate not only with the Moscow representatives of the business community, but also speak directly to the colleagues from the regions.

After the presentation the participants discussed questions with the speakers. In particular, Yulin Chang was asked about the Russian regions in which Taiwanese partners export their products. speaker noted that mineral resources that are imported in Taiwan are used by businesses throughout the country. Speakers were also asked if there were any special regulations for imported Taiwanese goods, in particular for dairy products. Yulin Chang assured the participants of the webinar that all the rules that are imposed on imported goods are soft and flexible, so international trade with Taiwan is much easier than with the majority of international partners.

The results of the meeting were summed up by the representative of the Government of Kaliningrad region Irakliy Gurtskaya. «It is very important to conduct such meetings. It is an opportunity to identify needs and prospects of the international business. Relations with Taiwan are getting stronger, the potential for cooperation increases day by day. We hope that in the future we will be able to attract partners to localize the manufacturing of Taiwanese goods in Russia», - said the participant.

WTC Moscow Special Project «Virtual business-mission» - a series of webinars dedicated to the development of international business cooperation. The project demonstrates the possibility of the Association of World Trade Centers to promote Russian business for the international markets, search for partners and investors. For 2017 WTC Moscow plans to conduct webinars with partners from China, Algiers, India, France, Korea and Turkey.