June 7, 2023
No. 197
Taiwan and the Slovak Republic held a signing ceremony for the Protocol of the Third Session of the Taiwanese-Slovak Commission on Economic Cooperation, as well as eight MOUs and agreements, on June 6. The two sides also announced that Taiwania Capital would use the Central and Eastern Europe Investment Fund to invest in a Slovak company. These actions lay an excellent foundation for cooperation and exchanges in such areas as economics and trade, medicine and healthcare, culture, semiconductors, and academic collaboration.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaushieh Joseph Wu, State Secretary Peter Švec of the Slovak Ministry of Economy, Minister of the National Development Council Kung Ming-hsin, and Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan each presented remarks and witnessed the ceremony.
Minister Wu noted that 2023 marked the 20th anniversary of the mutual establishment of Taiwanese and Slovak representative offices. He thanked State Secretary Švec for leading a delegation to Taiwan to attend the Third Session of the Taiwanese-Slovak Commission on Economic Cooperation. Minister Wu also expressed his appreciation to Lucia Kišš, Director General of Economic and Development Cooperation at the Slovak Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, for joining the signing ceremony online.
During the event, Taiwan and Slovakia signed MOUs covering medicine and healthcare, culture, joint research on power devices, and joint research on electric vehicles’ hybrid modules, as well as a technical service and license agreement. In addition, the management schools of National Sun Yat-sen University, National Central University, and Yuan Ze University each signed MOUs on cooperation with the Faculty of Management at Slovakia’s Comenius University. Minister Kung also announced that the Central and Eastern Europe Investment Fund would complete its second investment in Slovakia at the end of the month, investing three million euros into smart city company Sensoneo.
Taiwan and Slovakia are like-minded partners, and bilateral cooperation has yielded fruitful results in a range of areas. In accordance with the protocol, the two countries will hold the Fourth Session of the Taiwanese-Slovak Commission on Economic Cooperation in Slovakia in 2024. Building on their existing achievements, they look forward to deepening cooperation in such areas as economics and investment, industrial connectivity, and supply chain security, promoting even closer Taiwan-Slovakia relations and jointly advancing the unity and resilience of global democratic partnerships. (E)