With investment and business deals in mind, Taiwan is visiting India with its biggest-ever delegation, comprising leading firms in financial services and information technology (IT), investors and buyers from both public and private sectors.
Christina Liu, Minister of the Council for Economic Planning and Development of Taiwan, will lead the 80-member team during February 21-25. The delegation will include six central government ministries and six local governments, including Taipei City and other major municipalities.
It would seek cooperation from India in technology, pharmaceuticals, banks and tourism.
“This will be the largest-ever business delegation in the last 20 years. Compared with Japan or South Korea, Taiwan has been a latecomer. The government has, therefore, made it a policy to diversify our investments and trade from China and Asean countries to India,” Taiwanese ambassador to India Wenchyi Ong told Business Standard.
The visit would be part of a series of conferences called ‘Taiwan Road Show’, previously held in Hong Kong and Singapore. The delegation will make New Delhi its first stopover and is expected to meet Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, among others. It will later visit Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
Wenchyi also said the Taiwanese companies would be exploring greater investment opportunities in the country. Hence, there might not be any big-ticket investment announcement yet. However, he said a leading Taiwanese petrochemicals firm — LYC Chemicals Corp — was planning to invest in Gujarat.
“Besides Gujarat, the delegation would also be exploring other potential states to make investments. Most of these companies will be in India for the first time and they are represented by senior officers like CEOs or MDs. They will see for themselves the huge potential of the
Indian market and the bright prospect for collaboration. This delegation holds the promise of taking our bilateral economic relationship to the next level,” Wenchyi added.
