Taiwan, US To Resume TIFA Talks

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

04 October 2010

At the end of last month, a United States delegation visited Taipei for meetings with the Taiwanese government to discuss economic issues, including how to broaden and deepen their bilateral trade and economic relationship under the existing bilateral trade and investment framework agreement (TIFA).

The delegation was led by Claire Reade, Assistant United States Trade Representative (USTR) and included representatives from the US Department of Commerce and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Assistant USTR Reade reaffirmed the importance of the US-Taiwan bilateral economic relationship.

Talks under the TIFA have been on hold since 2007, but the two sides disclosed that they are now working to finalize mutually agreeable dates for the next meeting of the TIFA Trade and Investment Council. They are targeting late 2010 or early 2011.

The two sides agreed that the meeting of the Council will be chaired on the US side by Demetrios Marantis, Deputy USTR, and on the Taiwan side by Francis Liang, Vice Minister for Economic Affairs.

The two sides also began discussions about the agenda for the TIFA meeting, and agreed to have follow-up expert-level discussions on a range of issues and initiatives in the months leading up to it.

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