TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — During the 20th Taiwan-Germany Joint Business Council Meeting held on Thursday (Aug. 25), Siemens Taiwan, Kingsteel Machinery, and Ruh-Yih Automation signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for cooperating in the fields of energy efficiency, digital twinning, and sustainable development.

The German Trade Office in Taipei wrote in a press release that the German Parliamentary State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Franziska Brantner and Taiwan Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-Chyi (陳正祺) presided over the event, bearing witness to the MOU signing. The meeting, which has become an important platform that facilitates bilateral economic and trade exchanges in both the public and private sectors over the past 34 years, saw over 120 attendees and focused on carbon neutrality and net-zero carbon emissions this year.

During the event, Brantner and Chen also held the first dialogue on Germany-Taiwan economic and trade policies. Aside from discussing opportunities for cooperation in areas such as renewable energy, circular economy, semiconductor, and electric vehicle supply chain, the two also heard of Taiwanese and German businesses’ suggestions and opinions about the general investment environment, electric vehicles, intelligent machinery, and renewable energy.

The German Trade Office cited its 2021 German Business Confidence Survey as showing 61.3% of German businessmen in Taiwan expect Taiwan's economy to continue to grow in 2022. Chen said during the meeting that the Ministry of Economic Affairs highly values foreign businesses’ suggestions and will strive to create a more friendly investment environment.

According to the German Trade Office, Germany is Taiwan's largest trading partner in the European Union and the third-largest source of foreign investment, with bilateral trade between Taiwan and Germany reaching US$20.7 billion in 2021. As of June 2022, Germany has invested a total of US$4.48 billion in Taiwan, mainly in machinery and tools, electronics and computers, energy, and automotive industries.

(German Trade Office Taipei photo)