In this week’s installment of Looking South, Eric Gau chats with Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) Executive Vice President Simon Wang about the Taiwan Expo.
Transcript:
Eric: Good morning, I’m Eric Gau. Welcome to another episode of Looking South here on ICRT. Today we are joined by Taiwan External Trade Development Council executive vice president Mr. Simon Wang talking to us about the Taiwan Expo. Mr. Wang, welcome to the program.
Wang: Thank you Eric and good morning everyone.
Eric: Mr. Wang, to start us off, please explain to our listeners, what exactly the Taiwan Expo is and how was the Expo conceived?
Wang: Well Taiwan Expo is, as a matter of fact, is a part of Taiwan Week. You know, because it’s a series of activities during a week that will target a certain country in the new South Bound targeted counties. And how it was conceived, well you know our government is launching new South Bound Policy that we are strengthening our relationship, particularly in bilateral trade relationship, with targeted countries. So we think that to launch such activities, including Taiwan Expo, is probably a good way to get our targeted audiences a better understanding of what our country is, particularly in industrial, development and our new technologies, and so forth.
Eric: So you mentioned that this is of course part of the government’s new South Bound Policy, specifically the policy is a very broad one in general. So what part of the policy is the Taiwan Expo meant to assist?
Wang: Right, you know there are four pillars in this New South Bound Policy, including promote economic collaboration, including share resource, including conduct people exchange, and also forge regional links. And for Taiwan expo, I would say, it involves with economic collaboration, it’s a trade activity. And also I think because during the exhibition we also match make people, so it also has something to do with conduct people exchange.
Eric: It’s already been a year now, we’ve been doing this new South Bound Policy. So, during this time, what has the Taiwan Expo done? Where has it been?
Wang: We have actually been to Indonesia, starting our first event of Taiwan Expo in May. And this has gone pretty smoothly and we actually, we lay out our key vision of this Expo, and we have our unified image, presentation, and we establish our Pavilion theme, Theme Pavilion. And also we include some companies, 140 companies to be with us to have some kind of presentation there.
Eric: So, can you tell us what the reaction has been like at the expo? At the last one.
Wang: Right, the response?
Eric: Yes, the response from the locals.
Wang: The response is very, I would say, very successful. You know, from a couple of aspects. One is from the exhibitors, they are pretty satisfied, some of them expressed that they have upgraded their image through the show. 23 percent of the companies expressed such a result. And 20 percent of the companies said that they have explored partners already in the show, during the show. And some 30 percent expressed that they have received the orders. And second is from the visitors’ point of view. We have attracted around 20,000 visitors from Indonesian side. We have conducted some survey on these visitors. 73 percent said that they haven’t been able to visit Taiwan or probably they do not have ideas of what Taiwan is all about. And thirdly, is from the media side. We have attracted some 60 mainstream media to expose our shows, our information, and some reports in the media. And fourthly is that our products are shown, also our service, are shown in the expo are also very interesting. Particularly, those products are related to the circular economy, which is also very attractive to those visitors.
Eric: So, it sounds like the first one in Indonesia was quite successful. So, what are the next steps for the Expo? Where are you traveling to in the near future?
Wang: Yeah, our plan for this year now is in July, we will move to Vietnam. And in September, we will go to the Philippines. And in November, we will go to Malaysia. And of course next year, we have other plans, the first country we will go to Thailand, and the rest of the project is going on.
Eric: Alright, so it sounds like you have a lot of plans for the future. But based on what you’ve seen this far from your experience in Indonesia, how can the Expo program be improved or expanded? Like what else can you do within the bounds of the Expo?
Wang: Yeah, well, I think through this experience, the first, you can say, experiment in Indonesia, we find that different countries have their different features. Particularly, in terms of the consumer behaviors and the market characteristics and so forth. So we need to devise the tailor-made, customized options to meet the needs of the market. For example, in July, one thing is pretty different from what we have displayed in Indonesia, is that in Vietnam, we find that Vietnam is our fourth largest machinery destination. So we will erect a machinery, particularly in the agricultural processing machinery equipment, pavilion to, caters to the needs of the Vietnamese market. For example like that, of course in the Philippines, in Malaysia, we will adopt this principle to customize.
Eric: Very good. And finally, what kind of effects will you think Expo will have on the local Taiwan economy? You’ve already mentioned that in the Indonesia Expo, many of the exhibitors already found buyers there, and you think that this is going to expand in the future?
Wang: Yes, I think for this Expo, Taiwan Expo, we’re not only targeting to sell, I don’t think that is our purpose. Our purpose is more multifunctional, I would say, including maybe buyers or partners, as well as upgrade their image. From a longer term point of view, not only in business, as well as, we also in our Taiwan Expo, we also include education, and include technology, include agricultural exchanges. Multi-facets to interchange with our targeted audiences. So if you take Taiwan Expo as a platform for Taiwanese either companies or their business partners, also our talents exchange. I think that this is a very good platform to interchange.
Eric: Excellent. So we’ve been chatting with Mr. Simon Wang, the executive vice president of TAITRA. Mr. Wang, thank you for taking the time to chat with us today.
Wang: Thank you very much Eric. Thank you.