Jaushieh Joseph Wu
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Republic of China (Taiwan)
April 14, 2021
(As Prepared for Delivery)
Hello and welcome to today’s webinar!
I am delighted to be speaking at this GCTF Webinar on Supply Chain Restructuring and SME Financing. One of the core missions of the GCTF is to pool efforts with partner countries to deal with rising global challenges. COVID-19 has intensified the restructuring of global supply chains. Through today’s event, we hope to facilitate discussion and enhance cooperation on building more reliable, resilient and diversified supply chains.
I am particularly happy to see the European Union joining us in cohosting a GCTF workshop for the first time. This highlights our shared interest in promoting supply chains security and working together for a better world through the GCTF. Welcome on board!
Works among Taiwan and like-minded countries to strengthen supply chains started long before the pandemic struck. And over the past year, we have boosted efforts to better manage risk and further deepen economic partnerships.
In September 2020, Taiwan joined forces with the US, Japan, and the EU to stage a forum in Taipei on supply chain restructuring, aiming to improve security throughout key industries in the postpandemic era.
In November 2020, Taiwan and the US launched the Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue to work on economic issues of mutual interest, including global health security, 5G and telecommunications security, and supply chains.
Taiwan and the EU also organized a supply chain forum in March this year. Participants discussed ways to enhance supply chains resilience as the EU seeks to build deeper connectivity with Asia.
SMEs are a key source of vitality of Taiwan’s economy. As part of its proactive early response to COVID, the government of Taiwan initiated a range of industrial relief and economic stimulus programs to help our SMEs. As a result, Taiwan’s economic growth in 2020 was the best among the Four Asian Tigers. We would like to share our experience with today’s participants so as to help our partners build back better.
Taiwan remains committed to working with all like-minded countries to weather the storm of this pandemic. We believe that robust economic partnerships need to be built on the shared values of democracy, freedom, human rights, and the rule of law. Our partnerships with the US, Japan, and the EU are a great example of this—as demonstrated by today’s webinar.
Let me once again welcome all of you. I wish you a productive and fruitful discussion. Thank you!