Taiwan’s foreign direct investment in the EU reached US$783 million last year, growing 547 percent from 2013. Main destinations are the Netherlands, 49.3 percent; the U.K., 38.3 percent; Germany, 7.6 percent; the Czech Republic, 3.7 percent; and France, 1.1 percent.
Goods and services trade between the two sides also saw significant growth in 2014, advancing 4.1 percent and 5.3 percent year on year, respectively, to 40.2 billion euros (US$44.2 billion) and 7.9 billion euros.
This increase ranked Taiwan as the EU’s 19th-largest trade partner, up two places from the year before, 16th-largest import supplier and 23rd-largest export market.
EETO head Frederic Laplanche said Taiwan and the EU have an intense and well-structured bilateral relationship. “We look forward to seeing the trend of high investment from Taiwan continue in the years ahead.”
People-to-people exchanges were another area experiencing growth, with cooperation strengthening across culture and education, environment and climate change, human rights, nuclear safety, and research and technology.
The EU was the second most popular destination for Taiwan students to study abroad, while the number of EU students studying in Taiwan grew 6 percent to 4,620 compared with 2013. In addition, a total of 48 Horizon 2020 projects under the EU research framework involve local research partners.
Factfile data also revealed that the number of nationals from EU member states visiting Taiwan reached 282,468 in 2014, while 5,750 are currently residing in Taiwan. (YHC-JSM)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw