Taiwan, Israel to set up FTA working group

As reported in Port2Port:

Taiwan and Israel had reached a consensus over the establishment of a working group to study the feasibility of signing a free-trade agreement (FTA) by 2013.

Taiwan’s Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang announced the mutual understanding at the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ year-end press conference held in Taipei. The Minister noted that both countries had expressed an interest in signing an FTA to boost bilateral trades in the past.

“We are a trade-dependent economy, and it’s important to ensure our companies have free excess to global trade”.

Shih said It is understood that the working group idea was conceived during a recent trip to Israel by Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Huang Jung-chiou. Israel is highly interested about the economic prospects of the Asia-Pacific region and an FTA with Taiwan would help it seize opportunities in the region.