Looking South Episode #15 – New Zealand

In this week’s episode of ICRT‘s Looking South, Eric Gau chats with Taiwan’s representative to New Zealand, Representative Dale Wen-chieh Jieh of the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in New Zealand, about how the New Southbound Policy has boosted ties with the country.

Transcript:

Eric: Good morning and welcome to another installment of “Looking South” here on ICRT, as we explore the effects of the government’s New Southbound Policy. Today, we are joined by Representative Dale Wen-chieh Jieh of the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in New Zealand. Mr. Jieh, welcome to the program.

Mr. Jieh: Thank you, Eric.

Eric: How would you describe the current status of bilateral ties between Taiwan and New Zealand?

Mr. Jieh: Okay. New Zealand and Taiwan maintain stable, close and forward-looking relations. My office here works with our counterpart in New Zealand’s government on a daily basis to facilitate bilateral exchanges and cooperative projects. The bilateral free trade agreement between Taiwan and New Zealand, we call the ANZTEC, entered into effect in December, 2013. So during the past three years, trade has increased significantly between the two sides. Taiwan is now the seventh largest export market for New Zealand, which also means that people in Taiwan can enjoy more of New Zealand’s high quality products. In addition, ANZTEC has also brought people between the two sides even closer. The number of Taiwanese tourists visiting New Zealand has increased by 70%, from 21,000 visitors a year in 2013, to 36,000 visitors in 2016. So I think that the relationship between Taiwan and New Zealand are in very good condition, and also very good prospect.

Eric: So how have those improved over the past year ever since the introduction of the New Southbound policy, what has changed, during that time?

Mr. Jieh: Yeah, there has been a lot of change. The New Southbound policy of our government is a very comprehensive strategy that is made for Taiwan’s next stage of economic development, and to strengthen Taiwan’s adaptability to global economic volatility. This policy embraces four aspects, including economic cooperation, talent exchange, sharing of resources, and regional links. Through the introduction of this policy, my office has discussed with New Zealand agencies—both in public and private sectors— on the ideas of cooperation. We note that New Zealanders have demonstrated a higher interest to work with Taiwan. For example, my office and the Wellington Chamber of Commerce recently co-hosted a workshop to discuss how to do business with Taiwan. And this workshop in Wellington has received great interest from participants, and some of these participants immediately decided to join a delegation to Taiwan in mid-June, headed by the CEO of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. They all found the visit very fruitful and interesting, so a lot of following up is going on. The whole atmosphere after the introduction of the New Southbound Policy really excites people on both sides.

Eric: Now, you just mentioned the Wellington project. What other cooperative projects have been put in place due to the policy, and what effects have they had?

Mr. Jieh: My office here is developing a number of projects with New Zealand’s counterpart here. This project includes cooperation in the food processing industry, biotechnology, medical devices, and exchange of young entrepreneurs. In particular, I’d like to mention that a film co-production project by Taiwan and New Zealand producers is under discussion and hopefully we will see concrete results very soon. The private sectors in both sides are keen to establish mechanism for discussion lines for business opportunities, so we are working very hard trying to reactivate a long delayed process or mechanism we call the Taiwan-New Zealand Council. And hopefully, we will be able to reactivate this mechanism and to welcome a trade investment delegation composed mainly by the private sectors from Taiwan to New Zealand, before the end of this year. So with the incoming delegation from Taiwan, I think the relationship between Taiwan and New Zealand will be further enhanced.

Eric: So it sounds like the New Southbound Policy has already been quite effective in boosting ties between Taiwan and New Zealand, how would you like to see the policy be expanded in the future to further improve ties between the two countries?

Mr. Jieh: I think the policy itself has laid out very clear guidelines to put forward economic engagement between Taiwan and New Zealand, and we’ve done a lot of jobs to enhance the understanding of these guidelines to our New Zealand friends. So we hope to work even more closely with New Zealand in certain aspects, especially in the food processing sector. That way, both sides jointly can establish a food supply chain. Also, I think that Taiwanese companies are quite interested in leveraging the talents of New Zealand in partnership to develop high quality products for the global market. For instance, we are discussing with Taiwanese businesses to establish facilities in New Zealand for raw material processing. The New Zealand side can leverage Taiwan to access Asia and even mainland Chinese markets. The policy can also expand to soft power areas. New Zealand has its advantage in innovation, and so does Taiwan. The nature of the advantage of innovation between these two places are different and are complimentary with each other. We fully see the potentials and benefits of the two countries to work together in innovation. Thus, we want to push forward the exchange of young entrepreneurship and biotechnology collaborations for instance.

Eric: Alright Mr. Jieh, you’ve already touched on this briefly, but if you could expand further—what can the private sector do to get more involved in strengthening ties in bilateral exchanges?

Mr. Jieh: I think there’s a lot our private sector can do, but first I will recommend our private sectors, especially the ones that have not come to New Zealand in person to understand the market and opportunities that it has provided on a first-hand basis. So I would recommend that before coming here, they approach organizations such as TAITRA or International Economic Cooperation Association for more information and possibly assistance. Of course, our private sector friends can also contact my office here in Wellington directly before, or even after you have arrived. To my knowledge, the International Economic Cooperation Association is currently planning to organize a trade and investment delegation to visit New Zealand before the end of this year. This provides a very good opportunity for our business to meet face-to-face with potential New Zealand business partners. On the other hand, New Zealand’s government is also very keen to strengthen economic cooperation with Taiwan, so New Zealand’s representative office in Taipei, NZCIO, I believe will also be very helpful for our private sectors to establish business contact with a potential business partner in New Zealand. So, I think given the very good development and potential of New Zealand’s economy in recent years, Taiwanese businesses should take the opportunity to seriously consider New Zealand as an emerging market and a springboard to greater markets in the region.

Eric: We’ve been chatting with Mr. Dale Wen-chieh Jieh, Taiwan’s representative to New Zealand. Representative Jieh, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today.

Mr. Jieh: Thank you Eric, very nice talking to you.

 

Eric: And that wraps up today’s episode of “Looking South”. For this and past installments, head over to the ICRT web site’s podcast section, or to the Looking South blog. Until next week, I’m Eric Gau, thank you all for listening.

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