TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan and Australia agreed to deepen collaboration on transportation and information exchange on Tuesday (April 2).

In a semi-virtual signing ceremony, Taiwan representative to Australia Douglas Hsu (徐佑典) and Australia representative to Taiwan Robert Fergusson signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Transport Safety and Information Exchange, per a Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB) press release. TTSB Chairman Shinn-der Lin (林信得) oversaw the ceremony.

This agreement expands cooperation in transportation occurrence investigation between Taiwan and Australia, “marking a new chapter in the transportation safety cooperation between the two countries,” TTSB said.

Lin said that although Taiwan is excluded from the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Maritime Organization, it conducts occurrence investigations according to international standards. With the signing of this MOU, future cooperation and transportation safety exchanges with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau will hopefully continue, he said. 

Bilateral transportation safety cooperation first began in May 1998 when Taiwan’s now-defunct Aviation Safety Council opened a communication channel with Australia’s former Bureau of Air Safety Investigation. On August 1, 2019, the two nations expanded cooperation to include investigation of maritime, rail, and highway accidents.